UKCloud transports 10% stake in Cisco as companies try to convince IT bettors to buy British • The Register

UKCloud today raised 25 million euros in funding from Digital Alpha Advisors, a subsidiary of Cisco, to acquire 10% stake in a company that is fighting to convince buyers to use national cloud services rather than multinationals.

Former Attenda's technical director, Simon Hansford, and Ark Data Center founder, Jeffrey Thomas, created the company in mid-2011, leveraging the company's "Cloud First" strategy. UK.gov, which provides a quarter of public goods and services via SMEs.

Things were going well until Microsoft and AWS introduced themselves and started using UKCloud's public sector snacks. Today, parts of the government have migrated data to these two world beasts, and the standoff between David and Goliath is not as good for existing cloud cloud providers, including UKCloud.

Hansford, now CEO of UKCloud, has confirmed that two new directors, Scot Gardner, CEO of Cisco in the UK, and a manager of Digital Alpha, have joined the board of directors. He did not comment on the information that the injection of funds corresponded to a 10% stake in UKCloud.

He told us that the money would be used to "invest in our platform to expand our capabilities". UKCloud operates a multi-cloud platform and specialized platforms in the fields of health / life sciences and defense / national security. UKCloud rents rack space at Ark Data Center.

The agreement also states that UKCloud incorporates Cisco software for use on its own platform and for resale as a service. Hansford has confirmed that a version of Web-Ex hosted on the UKCloud platform is under study.

Cisco joins UKCloud's regular fan lineup, which includes singer / drummer Phil Collins, Genesis founding members Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, talented tennis player Andy Murray and player return Tim Henman.

Phil Collins and the supergroup exposed as investors in the cloud

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During the financial year ended March 31, 2018, UKCloud's turnover increased from £ 42.9 million to £ 40.2 million as a result of the reduced use of its services by "Small number of customers". Operating profit rose from £ 4.4 million to £ 3.2 million.

Hansford said the UK still had a vital role to play for slingers in the cloud and that he could not help resisting the onslaught of his rivals.

"Many customers have realized that AWS and Azure are actually lockdown games, using their embedded technology and applications they have seen a mbadive increase in their bills – we have an open platform."

Clearly, AWS and Microsoft are winning the war, at least on the marketing front. ®

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