Dimension Data Holdings

Dimension Data

Industry	Information technology
Founded	1983
Headquarters	South Africa
Key people	Jeremy Ord, Chairman Brett Dawson, Chief Executive Officer
Revenue	$5.84 billion (2012)^[1]
Number of employees	15,000
Parent	Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
Subsidiaries	AccessKenya, AlwaysOn, ContinuitySA, Dimension Data Learning Solutions, earthwave, Euricom, Internet Solutions, JQ Network, Merchants, Nexus, NextiraOne, Oakton, Plessey, Security Assessment, SQL Services, Training Partners and Viiew
Website	www.dimensiondata.com

Dimension Data is a South African company specializing in information technology services, with operations on every inhabited continent.

Dimension Data's focus areas include network integration, security solutions, data centre solutions, converged communications, customer interactive solutions, Microsoft solutions and a range of professional, consulting, managed and support services.

In 2010, the company was fully acquired by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.

History

The company was founded by Werner Sievers in 1983 in South Africa as an information technology specialist.^[2] It listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in 1987.^[2]

In 1998 it acquired Plessey South Africa.^[2] During the next two years it bought a series of companies in the UK, North America, Europe and Australia.^[2] It listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2000.^[2] In 2001 Dimension Data acquired ComTech Communications, an Australian company run by David Shein. In 2008 it acquired Data Processing Systems, an IT business based in the United Arab Emirates, and completed the acquisition of Datacraft Asia, which rebranded to Dimension Data in 2011.^[3]

In July 2010, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone announced an agreed takeover of Dimension Data in a £2.12 billion ($3.24 billion) deal.^[4] The offer was declared unconditional on 11 October 2010, with over 93% of shareholders having agreed to tender their holdings.^[5]

On June 30, 2011 OpSource Inc. was acquired by Dimension Data Holdings, naming Steve Nola the CEO of Dimension Data Cloud Solutions, who at the time was CEO of Dimension Data Australia.

In October 2012, As of October 1, 2012, Dimension Data launched its Cloud Services brand by renaming OpSource and BlueFire as Dimension Data.^[6]

In February 2014 the company acquired NextiraOne, a European-based services and solutions provider, in order to expand their European footprint.^[7]

In April 2014 the company acquired Valencia, CA-based Nexus, Cisco's 2014 Global Americas partner of the year, reportedly expanding its presence in the US market by 40%.^[8]

In November 2014 the company acquired Oakton, an Australian consulting company.

Subsidiaries

AccessKenya, AlwaysOn, ContinuitySA, Dimension Data Learning Solutions, earthwave, Euricom, Internet Solutions, JQ Network, Merchants, Nexus IS, Oakton, Plessey, Security Assessment, SQL Services, Training Partners and Viiew are subsidiaries of Dimension Data Holdings.^[9]

Former subsidiaries BlueFire and OpSource were integrated into Dimension Data's cloud group in 2012. The group develops and sells public and private cloud solutions to enterprise clients.

Former subsidiary Xigo was integrated into Dimension Data's Communications Lifecycle Management group.^[10]

In February 2014, former subsidiary NextiraOne was rebranded as Dimension Data.^[11]

Service offerings

Dimension Data is a full service cloud provider with all the capabilities to satisfy organizations with the ambition to leverage IT as a Service (ITaaS). Dimension Data cloud models include off premises shared resources on a public cloud; on or off premises, opex private cloud; and together these cloud models provide hybrid cloud with the added benefit of a cloud management platform called Dimension Data CloudControl. Unique to Dimension Data is an off premises, right sized private cloud with segregated compute, storage and optional private network. Whether clients are looking for secure, scalable and operationally efficient infrastructure or fit for purpose cloud to enable productivity and collaboration tools or enterprise applications from ISVs or developed in house, Dimension Data is the cloud of choice.

Unlike many other cloud providers, Dimension Data offers complete cloud surround to accommodate the complexity of diverse enterprise application estates. Every organization has applications that have been developed for the cloud, or applications that are fit to the cloud through refactoring, redesign or re-platforming and the applications that will never move to the cloud. Dimension Data data centers accommodate all application types with managed hosting, outsourcing, co-location and cloud. These data centers are located on six continents where technical experts in many disciplines are waiting to provide globally consistent service for multi-national organizations.

Recognition

In 2012, Dimension Data was positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of the Gartner Communications Outsourcing and Professional Services Magic Quadrant (COPS) Worldwide report as well as in the Gartner Cloud Infrastructure as a Service Magic Quadrant report.^[2]

In March 2013, Dimension Data was named as a Leader in the Green Quadrant® Sustainable Technology Services report by Verdantix. Dimension Data was named along with seven other companies as having a dedicated sustainability practice, a wide range of capabilities and a strong track record in corporate sustainability.

References