Hackett takes multimillion dollar stake in UltraServe
Simon Hackett, NBN Co board member and founder of internet service provider, Internode, has made a 'multimillion dollar' investment for a 40 percent stake of Australian cloud and managed hosting services provider, UltraServe.
The Sydney-based cloud services provider announced today that Hackett's investment would allow it to accelerate its international growth, with a particular focus on growth in Europe and Asia.
The 14-year-old company will also establish its Lighthouse customer management platform under a standalone company, Orchestrated, to support telecommunications carriers and managed service providers. Orchestrated will offer a managed services layer across Amazon, VMware and other clouds.
For UltraServe founder and majority owner, Samuel Yeats, Hackett's industry experience will help pave the way for a swift and painless expansion for the company.
"Simon brings significant experience in scaling businesses, bringing in expertise around that area and having them on board really allows us to do that properly," Yeats told ZDNet.
"We are now commercialising Lighthouse for use in the telco and managed service provider [sectors] and are working closely with some very large organisations.
"When the inevitable question about backing is asked, Simon’s investment will give us additional credibility and offer greater assurance to customers. Simon's involvement will leverage his experience and his passion for the telco sector," he said.
Yeats also said that the company could now take advantage of Amazon Web Services' global cloud infrastructure and other cloud platforms to expand "very efficiently" in other countries.
For Hackett, who is a non-executive director at NBN Co, UltraServe's potential is clear.
"UltraServe has smart leadership, a strong market presence and unique IP that will scale internationally," he said.
"As companies embrace cloud infrastructure to provide more on-demand services for their customers, UltraServe has the opportunity to transform its Australian achievements into international success and also to leverage its hard-won expertise into a new segment of the market."
Hackett's long-time colleague John Lindsay — former CTO for both iiNet Limited and Internode — will take a seat on the UltraServe board and work closely with the company's management to develop its services.