October 2006
Revera raises funds for virtual Data Centres in Australia
Wellington IT services firm Revera has raised millions of dollars in private equity in a bid to boost its Australian and South Island business.
Revera will combine the money with its own cash to open "virtual datacentres" in rented space in Melbourne and Victoria by the end of the month.
Chief executive Wayne Norrie says Australian customers are currently supported from its datacentres in Auckland and Tawa, but rising demand and expectations of network speeds means paying for trans-Tasman fibre connections is no longer cost-effective.
The company signed an agreement last year to use five Australian datacentres belonging to Australian firm Nextgen. Mr Norrie says Nextgen is veering away from the kind of "industrial" datacentres with heavy power loads that Revera needs, so it had to look elsewhere.
Revera also plans to open a datacentre in Christchurch early next year to help it secure more business in the South Island.
"Local presence and local relationships are very important in the South Island," Mr Norrie says.
Revera has had success selling IT services to small- and medium-sized businesses, and it aims to turn over $100 million by 2010.
Revera currently turns over $25 million annually.
The company plans to list on a stock exchange in 2009, but hasn't yet decided which one.
It recently paid a five-figure sum for half of Reliance Software, a Wellington Lotus Notes specialist, acquiring two staff and seven new customers through the deal.
Revera, which began life as the New Zealand subsidiary of Hitachi Data Systems before a management buyout, now has about 70 staff.
