Category Archives: Six Degrees Group

Six Degrees Group Acquires Datahop

Six Degrees Group has expanded its UK network capabilities with the acquisition of Datahop, an international datacentre interconnection business with 200 customers. Datahop’s network consists of a resilient, high-speed fibre ring that connects 21 points of presence (PoPs) in London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris.

Six Degrees Group’s expanded network will bring most of London’s datacentres on-net, including Telecity, Telehouse, Interxion, Level 3 and Iomart facilities. Datahop’s network brings 16 new PoPs onto the Six Degrees core network as well as extending the Group’s footprint into four Western European countries. Six Degrees Group run-rate revenues are now approximately £44m with EBITDA of over £11m.

Following the acquisition, Six Degrees Group will be investing in its network by undertaking a multi-million pound upgrade before launching a next generation VPLS-enabled datacentre interconnect fabric that will enable multi-gigabit port capability for distribution of its converged voice, data and hosting portfolio. The Group’s network now connects European and American financial centres with an unrivalled footprint in London carrier-neutral datacentres, and uniquely positions it with the ability to deliver high-speed network interconnects in London.

Daniel Lowe, managing director of Six Degrees Group’s managed data division, commented: “This announcement marks a significant step-change in the scale, reach and capability of the Six Degrees Group network. Datahop’s technologies will allow us to deliver higher bandwidth, and a broader range of services to our customers. Our ability to link people, places and clouds has been boosted significantly with the flexible service creation capability we now offer to the market.”

To find out more please visit: www.6dg.co.uk


Six Degrees Group Announces Two Cloud Hosting Acquisitions

Six Degrees Group today announced that it has completed the acquisitions of two London-based managed hosting and cloud providers. Firstserv and Serverstream were both founded over 10 years ago and focus exclusively on the rapidly growing hosting market with a particular emphasis on the digital media, publishing and leisure sectors. Customers include Sunseeker, The Spectator and Port of London Authority.

Both Firstserv and Serverstream will be integrated into Six Degrees Group’s managed data division where they will add £3m of hosting revenues, representing a mix of managed hosting, cloud hosting (virtual private, private and hybrid) and complex web hosting. 17 highly-skilled personnel will be joining Six Degrees Group where they will focus on integrating and expanding the Group’s hosting platforms. The acquisitions are part of a series of strategic investments being made in the Six Degrees Group’s cloud offering.

Following these transactions, Six Degrees Group’s run-rate revenues now exceed £40m with underlying EBITDA of over £10m. The company continues to enjoy strong double-digit organic growth, underpinned by cross-selling.

Alastair Mills, CEO of Six Degrees Group, stated: “I am delighted to welcome both Firstserv and Serverstream to Six Degrees Group. This announcement sees the Group continue to focus on managed data services, particularly in the fast-growing cloud hosting sector. Our goal for 2012 is to become one of the top five hosting and cloud providers in the UK.”

Gordon Kenneway, MD of Firstserv, said: “This is an important day for all at Firstserv. Our employees will now have access to a larger, geographically diverse hosting platform with best-in-class compute and storage resources, which is also a very exciting step for our customers. I am looking forward to joining Alastair and the Six Degrees team to help establish their position as one of the UK’s fastest growing cloud companies.”

Jonathan Obadia, MD of Serverstream, commented: “We are excited to be joining Six Degrees Group. Serverstream has a strong reputation for delivering complex hosting solutions to mid-market customers and this merger enables us to continue our expansion with additional services, scale and geographical diversity. Our customers will continue to receive the same exceptional levels of service and support that they’ve become accustomed to, with the added benefit of access to