infoWAN, based in Garching near Munich will become part of the new cloud champion, which was recently formed by the merger of Beck et al., binary and direkt gruppe. As a platform investment of the private equity firm Waterland, the cloud champion is expanding its existing capabilities with another experienced cloud provider to support its customers in creating state-of-the-art IT solutions. The acquisition of infoWAN further enhances its service portfolio in the growing digital workplace segment and further deepens the Group’s strategic relationship with Microsoft. infoWAN’s main shareholder and current managing director Lars Riehn will also reinvest in the joint group and remain with the cloud champion in the future.

infoWAN Datenkommunikation GmbH, along with its subsidiary DrVis Software GmbH, is one of the key Microsoft cloud solution providers in Germany and offers state-of-the-art workspace services for SMEs and large enterprises in all industries, as well as in the educational sector. This positions infoWAN as a leading expert for complex “workspace-in-the-cloud” solutions, specialising in the planning, implementation and operation of Microsoft solutions. infoWAN benefits from its close relationship with Microsoft, also due to its numerous Microsoft Gold competencies and its status as Direct CSP and FastTrack Ready Partner. In order to make the increasingly complex operation of modern cloud infrastructures easier for its customers, infoWAN – like the other three founding members of the group – offers fully managed cloud solution services. With its holistic approach, infoWAN develops, implements and operates modern workplace solutions as part of the customers' digital transformations. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, with offices in Regensburg and Jena, with a staff of around 80 employees.

With the new platform, which now comprises four cloud players, Waterland addresses the high-growth market for cloud consulting and managed cloud service solutions. Due to business process digitalisation an increasing number of companies across all industries are faced with a growing level of complexity and the necessity to modernise their own IT landscape and – in some cases – their entire operating model. Whether these digitalisation processes are successful or not, is mainly determined by the choice of the right partner. Therefore, Waterland’s goal is the establishment of a powerful digital cloud service provider, which can cover the planning, integration and operation of the offered solutions and thus cover all its customers’ cloud requirements.

“Out of a multitude of options for the future development of infoWAN, I have made a very conscious decision in favour of this group and Waterland, since both the business sectors and technological focus points of the four companies complement each other very well. It was also important to me that I found a long-term partner in Waterland, who is able to effectively accelerate the group’s joint growth”, says Lars Riehn, Managing Director of infoWAN, “With this new group as a digitalization partner at their side, every customer can be sure to find the right way into the cloud. We do not only offer a state-of-the-art portfolio of cloud services, but also technological enablement, and an integrated transformation and organisation of employees. I am also pleased by the fact that all the founders of the group’s companies have a similarly long history in our sector and that we already know each other from previous joint projects. The people involved have all been active in the cloud provider market for many years and appreciate one another.

“Many German companies begin their transformation towards modern cloud infrastructures with the initial steps into the area of digital workspace and productivity solutions. This is where we are enhancing our competencies with the new member of the cloud champion. Furthermore, what sets infoWAN apart from its competitors is its close relationship with technology partners such as Microsoft”, says Dr. Gregor Hengst, Principal at Waterland.

Waterland has extensive experience in the area of digitalisation and cloud migration. In the German-speaking market Waterland is also invested in the companies Serrala Group (a payment technologies provider), Tineo/nexellent/Netrics (an enterprise IT solutions provider), netgo (an IT system house) and Enreach (a unified communication provider).
As part of the transaction, Waterland was advised by Hengeler Mueller (Legal) and EY (Financial).

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