Hybrid multi-cloud managed service provider (MSP) Aptum today increased its product offerings significantly, as well as its head count, with the announcement that it has acquired Montreal-based CloudOps, an organization that specializes in open source cloud-native platforms, networking and DevOps.
While terms of the agreement are not being announced, the move will result in upwards of 65 employees joining Aptum, with the CloudOps brand remaining intact. Plans also call for the firm’s headquarters to remain in Montreal.
Founded in 2005 by Ian Rae, the cloud consulting, managed services and software development firm’s current focus is on telecom, utility, financial, large enterprise, software, media, healthcare and public sector organizations.
“Aptum has been on a transformational journey over the last three years,” said Susan Bowen, Aptum’s president and chief executive officer (CEO). “This strategic move will extend our ability to serve our customers with solutions such as DevOps and Advanced Cloud Migration Services.”
In a release, Rae added that “over the last two years of collaborating with Aptum to offer managed DevOps services, we have successfully joined forces to help customers accelerate their application platform engineering and operational excellence in the cloud.
“We look forward to helping more customers across a wide range of industries to own their own destinies in the cloud, unlocking the true value of cloud solutions for their businesses.”
The company notes on the Aptum web site that it helps organizations “leverage the flexibility of the cloud while reserving the right to change technologies and components without vendor lock-in. This enables our customers to meet their changing business goals over time.”
In an interview this week with Channel Daily News, Bowen and Rae said aside from Aptum now employing close to 300 employees, the acquisition marks a key move in the company’s journey transitioning from a provider of fiber and data centre services to a full-scale hybrid multi-cloud MSP.
Under terms of the deal, which was finalized last week, Rae will now oversee Aptum’s software business unit as president and CEO of CloudOps and CloudMC. In addition, fellow CloudOps executive Marc Paré has been named general manager of the firm’s advisory and consulting services, while Will Stevens has been appointed its chief technology officer and will focus on software-defined cloud offerings.
“One term which I am happy to share with you is that Ian and the rest of the leadership team fully bought into staying with us and going on this journey,” Bowen said. “That is extremely important. CloudOps will integrate with Aptum, but the brand will remain, and the leadership will focus on the areas they are most passionate about.”
On the hyperscaler front, a key win for Aptum is that CloudOps is a certified partner for both AWS and Google. When combined with the fact the former earned its Microsoft Azure expert MSP badge in December, it means the company can conduct business with all three major hyperscalers as well as with other cloud providers such as Hypertec Cloud and Cox Edge.
“What Ian and his team allow Aptum to do is to be able to take the customers that we have on that platform engineering journey, and allow us to be much more involved up the stack, particularly in AWS and Google,” said Bowen.
“We already had it in Azure, and we already have private cloud, and this accelerates our ability to deliver more to our existing customer base. And I think that now, combining the operations of both organizations together gives us this tremendous pool of talent, which we are focused on retaining as well.”
Signing off on the deal was DigitalBridge Group Inc., a digital infrastructure firm headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., which owns Aptum and is an organization that currently invests in five vertical markets: data centres, cell towers, fiber networks, small cells and edge infrastructure.
A main proponent of it, said Bowen, was Steven Sonnenstein, senior managing director with the company, who graduated from McGill University and is also now an advisor to the Montreal-based educational institution. He recognizes, she added, the importance of the Canadian market, particularly in Ontario and Quebec.
Serious discussions about a potential merger began last spring.
“As Aptum has been moving up the stack, so to speak, with the divestitures of some of its more tangible assets and becoming more of a managed cloud platform company, CloudOps has been on a parallel journey on a smaller scale where we spun out an infrastructure service called Cloud.ca,” said Rae. “We ultimately sold that in 2021, to Hypertech Group, and it is now the Hypertech Cloud.”
According to the release, the amalgamation from both companies will “extend product opportunities across multiple sectors beyond telecommunications to include technology and business services, media and communications, retail, financial services, manufacturing, energy and utilities, hospitality, education, transportation, among others.”
The transaction was officially completed on Jan 5.
