Nathan Lowe (ASI Solutions)
ASI Solutions has acquired Canberra-based managed service provider Forward IT in a bid to boost its government play in the nation’s capital.
Founded in 2002 and operating out of Belconnen in Canberra, ForwardIT is a managed IT service provider and value added reseller.
The company, which counts Cisco, Microsoft, Dell EMC, HP, Lenovo and VMware among its vendor partners, specialises in ICT design, implementation and support services for government, small and medium business, education and the not-for-profit sectors.
According to ASI Solutions’ managing director Nathan Lowe, Canberra is one of the regions in which the IT services company wants to extend its presence.
“We have identified Canberra as an area where we need to grow,” said Lowe. “And Forward IT’s strong team gives us the opportunity to rapidly build that growth.
“The acquisition will give ASI access to additional government business to grow our public sector portfolio along with additional managed service growth and will give us the additional volume to provide scale to our product and managed services offerings,” he said.
As it stands, ASI Solutions has been a contracted panel supplier on a variety of federal, state and local government panels for the past 20 years. However, the acquisition is set to substantially bolster its involvement in federal government deals -- an important area for the company.
Indeed, the public sector vertical is of significant importance to the company’s business and sits proportionally alongside its focus on other verticals such as education and enterprise more broadly.
The deal, the value of which has not been disclosed, will see Forward IT run on a standalone basis, but will be provided with support by its new parent company where needed.
Forward IT’s three founders and directors, Dom Polegubic, Stephen Seckar and Nick Kattas, will remain in the business, while the company’s 30-plus staff will also remain, along with new staff that have been added to Forward IT’s ranks since acquisition's closure on 1 October.
“We made this acquisition because of Forward IT’s team and relationships, and we plan to preserve and learn from Forward IT’s knowledge and client relationships,” said Lowe.
While Forward IT already claims to have a strong portfolio of government and corporate clients, the new arrangement provides the Canberra company with the backing to bring on new customers in the ACT market.
“Forward IT welcomes this purchase as the chance to bring in working capital to grow and fund new opportunities” said Kattas. “It gives the Forward IT directors a chance to run the business with additional funding and less distraction and to harness ASI’s infrastructure in the form of our newly implemented ERP system, our inventory, warehousing, infrastructure and processes.”
