Companies in Maidenhead weigh in on £57 million deal for Marlow IT security firm

A global data centre company with its flagship site in Maidenhead has forked out £57 million to buy a Marlow IT security company.

iomart Group plc, which owns a 12,000 server data centre in Cordwallis Business Park, has bought Atech Support Limited - headquartered at Marlow International in Parkway. 

Atech Cloud is a Microsoft Solutions Partner and offers businesses tailored cyber-security through Artificial Intelligence and other Microsoft technology.

It will support iomart’s 13 data centres that store information from companies across the world.

iomart chief executive officer Lucy Dimes said: “Atech’s reputation for excellence in Microsoft solutions and its highly accredited team are a perfect complement to our existing capabilities.

“This acquisition strengthens our ability to offer a complete range of cloud services to our customers, ensuring we continue to meet their evolving needs.”

Atech has 150 employees and although based in Buckinghamshire, it also has offshore operations established in India and Poland.

Since 2022, it has grown to support 10,000 customers through purchases of several smaller computing companies.

By adding the company, iomart now has 650 employees.

Atech chief executive officer Ryan Langley said: “Joining iomart presents a fantastic opportunity to drive further innovation and growth.

“With our combined expertise, we’re well-positioned to deliver even greater value to our customers, enabling them to modernise their operations and leverage the full potential of cloud technology.”

Mr Langley said: “With the increased operational strength of iomart supporting us, and continued strengthening of our Microsoft relationship, we are excited about what lies ahead.”

“With our combined expertise, we’re well-positioned to deliver even greater value to our customers, enabling them to modernise their operations and leverage the full potential of cloud technology.”

The multi-million pound deal was supported by Maidenhead-based accounting firm Wilson Partners Corporate Finance.

The company also has offices in South Africa, Kent and East Anglia.

Atech co-founder Tim George said the company had been ‘invaluable and instrumental’ to the success of the £57 million deal.

“Wilson Partners have supported Atech every step of the way over the past three years,” Mr George said.

Good cyber-security is an essential of modern computing given the growing threat of hacking – and the huge cost this can cause.

A UK government cyber security breaches survey found half of businesses and nearly a third of charities had experienced a cyber breach or attack in the last year.

The National Crime Agency says most ‘high profile’ cybercrime in the UK is committed by Russian-language criminals – although not all all necessarily linked to the Russian state.

When security goes wrong - this can also cause major issues.

IT systems for businesses and the NHS were rendered unusable when US cybersecutiry firm CrowdStrike experienced a problem updating software in July this year.