Viatel Technology Group

Viatel Technology Group is a Dublin-based technology company, founded from some of the elements of the Nasdaq-quoted US technology company of the same name but now part of a holding with Digiweb, focused primarily on the Irish market.

This article is about the Irish technology company. For the Australian data service, see Videotex § Australia.
Viatel Technology Group
TypePrivate
IndustryTechnology
FounderMartin Varsavsky (original form), Colm Piercy (Irish business)
Headquarters
Dublin
,
Ireland

History

Early years

Viatel was founded in 1991 by Martin Varsavsky. In 1994, it went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Four years later, Varsavsky sold his stake in the company for US$200 million and left the company.[1] In 1999, Viatel's market capitalization reached US$1.2 billion.[2] At that time, Viatel's second-largest outside shareholder was George Soros, while the largest outside stake was held by the global telecommunications company COMSAT.[3] On May 2, 2001 Viatel Inc. and its all of its U.S. subsidies filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the state of Delaware.[4]

Sale to Digiweb and divestment

The European arm of Viatel was purchased, in May 2013, by the Irish telecoms operator Digiweb,with at least some Viatel investors retaining interests in the new setup.[5][6] In November 2015 it was announced that Zayo was in the process of buying Viatel's UK and mainland Europe network, leaving the Irish network to continue under the name of Viatel; this €98.8m transaction was completed on December 31, 2015.[7]

Irish business

The remaining elements of Viatel focused on the Irish, and to some extent European markets, for business telecoms, cloud and cyber security services, with significant Irish and global brands as customers.[8] In 2018, Paul Rellis, the former chief operations officer for Microsoft in Western Europe, and a former head of Microsoft Ireland, was appointed as CEO of the Digiweb Group, with Digiweb and Viatel as the main operating branches.[9]

Growth from 2020 - acquisitions

In October 2020 Viatel acquired Ripplecom[10] and Irish Telecom Service in December 2020.[11] In July 2021, Nova Telecom was added,[12] followed in October 2021 by Skytel Networks and January 2022 by digital transformation services provider, ActionPoint.[13] In February 2022, Wifibre was added,[14] and in July 2022, supportIT,[15] and then in May 2023, Sungard AS Ireland.[16]

Following considerable organic growth and the series of acquisitions, Viatel reached a staffing of over 310 people, with locations in Dublin, Dundalk and Limerick.[17]

Awards

In 2015 Viatel received a "Highly Commended" award for Best Wholesale Service Provider at the Comms National Awards,[18] and was nominated for Capacity Magazine's Global Carrier Awards for Best Pan-European Wholesale Carrier.[19] Viatel was named as Cisco Transformation & Innovation Partner Award Winner 2021.

Viatel Technology Group is a Platinum Standard Deloitte Best Managed Company.[20] In 2023, Viatel was named as Best Place to Work by the Tech Excellence Awards[21] and Managed ICT Company of the Year by the Chambers Ireland InBUSINESS Recognition Awards.[22] Viatel was also shortlisted as Company of the Year by the Tech Excellence Awards[23] and Best Professional Services Agency in the Guaranteed Irish Business Awards.

References
  1. Brown, Eric. "The Connector". Forbes. Retrieved 4 August 2013. Martin Varsavsky has created three. In 1991 he launched Viatel, a pan-European telco that went public on the Nasdaq in 1994; he had put $230,000 into it, and he sold his stake later for $200 million. In 1998 he left Viatel to start Jazztel, a telecom network listed in Spain, and in the bubble his 20% stake was worth $1 billion.
  2. "Undervalued Viatel?". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 4 August 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013. Viatel, a global provider of telecommunications services, has operations and assets in Europe much like those of KPNQwest. Yet Viatel's market cap is a mere $1.2 billion compared with KPNQwest's $19 billion
  3. TEITELBAUM, RICHARD (17 February 1997). "Viatel A Cautionary Tale Wall Street Heavy Hitters Like George Soros Are Backing This Small, Shaky Telecom Outfit--But That Doesn't Mean You Should Too". CNN (Fortune magazine). Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  4. "Viatel seeks bankruptcy protection". The Guardian. 2 May 2001.
  5. "Digiweb Group acquires Viatel and VTLWaveNet". Capacity Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.
  6. Kennedy, John (15 May 2013). "Digiweb merger with Viatel creates pan-European fibre player". Silicon Republic (technology news). Retrieved 13 June 2023. Digiweb has merged with Viatel, a London-based telecoms operator ... will connect 34 Western European cities over an 8,500km fibre network. ... combined workforce of 200 and annual revenues of US$78m ... Investors in Viatel, including Morgan Stanley, are rolling their investment in Viatel into Digiweb Group and are investing additional equity to fund the introduction of new services. Viatel has invested US$1.5bn in constructing a low-latency 8,500km fibre network connecting 34 European cities.
  7. "Zayo Closes Acquisition of Viatel in Europe | Zayo Group". Zayo Group. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  8. "Viatel acquires Sungard's Irish operations and data centres". 2 May 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  9. Kitson, Niall (27 March 2018). "Former Microsoft Ireland head Paul Rellis named Digiweb Group CEO". TechCentral.ie. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  10. "Viatel forecasts €38m in revenues on back of Ripplecom acquisition". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  11. "Viatel makes second acquisition with deal to buy Irish Telecom". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  12. "Viatel snaps up Nova in its third acquisition in nine months". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  13. "Viatel snaps up Limerick-based ActionPoint". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  14. "Wicklow wifi company bought by Viatel". Independent.ie. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  15. Taggart, Emma (5 July 2022). "Viatel acquires Irish IT services provider SupportIT". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  16. O’Dea, Blathnaid (2 May 2023). "Viatel snaps up Sungard, continuing its major growth spree". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  17. Kennedy, John (24 May 2023). "Life isn't 'one size fits all' says Viatel | ThinkBusiness". Think Business. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  18. "2015 COMMS NATIONAL AWARDS SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED | Comms Dealer". www.comms-dealer.com. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  19. "Capacity reveals Global Carrier Awards 2015 shortlist". www.capacitymedia.com. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  20. "2022 winners | Ireland's Best Managed Companies". Deloitte Ireland. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  21. "WINNERS 2022". Tech Excellence Awards. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  22. "InBusiness Recognition Awards Winners 2023". InBUSINESS Ireland. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  23. "Categories". Tech Excellence Awards. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
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