Nitel Acquires Hypercore, Its First Deal Following Private Equity Investment

‘We’ve made a lot of investment in organic growth as well as expanding our product lines and footprint. We are also looking to do inorganic growth, starting with Hypercore. We are also looking to buy strategic capabilities, particularly in the security sector,’ says Nitel CEO Margi Shaw

Nitel, a provider of Network-as-a-Service technology to solution providers, Monday unveiled the acquisition of fellow technology developer Hypercore Networks.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, marks the first acquisition that Nitel has made since it was acquired in December by U.K.-based private equity firm Cinven, said Margi Shaw, CEO of the Chicago-based company.

Nitel, which was founded 20 years ago, provides Network as a Service, including managed routing, software-defined networking and layered security via a community of channel partners and solution architects, Shaw told CRN.

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“We’re an asset-light company,” she said. “We have core networking and routing infrastructure in the U.S., and we’ll extend it to the international market. But for the last mile, we leverage regional carriers, RBOCs and other providers.”

Garland, Texas-based Hypercore provides business-focused connectivity and telecom technologies, including voice and expanded software-defined networking technologies, and brings with it a multilingual operating center in Costa Rica, Shaw said. All of Hypercore’s founding partners are joining Nitel in strategic leadership positions, she said.

The First, But Not Last

Nitel has focused primarily on organic growth, and Hypercore is the company’s first acquisition—but not its last, Shaw said.

“We’ve made a lot of investment in organic growth as well as expanding our product lines and footprint,” she said. “We are also looking to do inorganic growth, starting with Hypercore. We are also looking to buy strategic capabilities, particularly in the security sector. Look for more from us with the next 12 months.”

Nitel has focused primarily on the North America market but with Cinven’s support that will change, Shaw said.

“Cinven provides a great opportunity for Nitel to expand into international markets,” she said. “They have a substantial global market, while we have an extensive footprint in North America. They’ve expanded our growth path aggressively.”