Google partner Ancoris has acquired Microsoft Azure specialist Sundown Solutions and rebranded as ‘Telana’, in a move its CEO described as “an unprecedented combination of two pure-play technology partners”.
The Telana brand officially launches today, with the Ancoris and Sundown monikers simultaneously ceasing to exist from a market perspective.
Backed by Beech Tree Private Equity, the enlarged business has 110-120 staff.
The CEO of fellow Google partner Qodea recently asserted that customers are “a little bit confused” by cloud-agnostic partners.
But talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Ancoris CEO Andre Azevedo had a contrasting message, claiming instead that a combined Google and Microsoft partner is “what customers are asking for”.
“Sometimes being a single-threaded partner has precluded us from being a trusted advisor to our customers,” Azevedo said.
“When I was at my previous company [Cloudreach] and even here, people would say ‘I want a Google migration’, ‘I want to do an AWS migration’, or ‘I’ve got this Microsoft transformation programme’,” Azevedo said.
“People led with the technology.
“Now, people lead with the problem, and the technology follows suit.
“Customers see that we’re very good at solving problems, but they also say, ‘you’re Google only, and therefore you’re biased towards a specific type of technology’.
“We saw the market shifting from leading with technology, to leading with the problem, so we looked around at how we could gain more capabilities on other technologies.”
Sundown rundown
After weighing its options, Ancoris opted for inorganic growth to achieve this, Azevedo said.
Employing 40-45 staff, Burnely-based Sundown is among an elite group of UK Azure Expert MSPs.
“It’s on a really strong growth trajectory, with strong credentials in regulated industries and security,” Azevedo said.
Sundown Managing Partners Tony Boyle, Stuart Buchanan, Heath Groves and Kelly Groves will stay on at the enlarged company.
Telana will “if anything, invest more” in its partnerships with Google and Microsoft as a combined entity, Azevedo claimed.
“The strength of those partnerships will continue – the expertise and the access to funding and programmes – that doesn’t change,” he said.
“It [was about] creating a new brand in the market that delivers innovation services for the technology that’s right for customers.”
Recent rebrands have seen channel partners adopt enigmatic, almost intergalactic-sounding names (for instance Qodea, Aurora, Kubus, Cybit, Espria, Cybit).
But Azevedo was quick to stress that Telana is in fact a variation of a Zulu word for a shelf in the middle of the village where treasures are kept.
“That’s actually quite a powerful message,” he said.
“We think it’s quite an unprecedented combination of two pure-play technology partners coming together. I don’t think I’ve seen that before,” Azevedo concluded.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
