MeetingZone, the global independent audio and web conferencing and collaboration service provider, has acquired Atia Communications a leading provider of Unified Communications (UC) services and one of the first Microsoft Lync accredited specialists.
“This is MeetingZone’s third acquisition in eighteen months and demonstrates our commitment, following our own acquisition by GMT Communications Partners, to become a major European UC provider,” explained Steve Gandy, MeetingZone’s CEO.
The acquisition enables MeetingZone to build on its UC portfolio of products and services to address the rapidly growing market with Microsoft Lync solutions in addition to its current capability to deliver UC via Cisco’s WebEx range of services.
“This makes perfect sense for all parties concerned. MeetingZone is currently providing UC solutions adding our high quality service wrap to the Cisco WebEx suite of products for a wide range of customers for whom an enterprise solution is the best approach,” commented Gandy. “Our acquisition of Atia complements this by broadening our UC offering enabling us to provide Microsoft solutions such as Lync for those customers that wish to embrace UC by building on their Microsoft platform.”
Patrick Copping, Atia’s Commercial Director, added: “MeetingZone’s unique service infrastructure and excellent back end processes will enable Atia to scale up and grow much faster. It also gives us a global platform from which to greatly accelerate the development of our business in order to meet increasing demand for UC solutions from our existing and potential customers.”
Initially Atia will retain its own identity and brand, but both MeetingZone and Atia will be actively promoting each other’s services.
MeetingZone’s shareholders include senior management and GMT Communications Partners, an independent TMT focused private equity group who have actively invested in the European marketplace for the past 20 years.