Network monitor secures US$100M investment
A Montreal-based network monitoring company that works with some of the world’s largest telecoms landed a major investment from a U.S. private equity firm.
New York-based Bridge Growth Partners LLC announced Thursday it invested north of US$100 million for a majority equity stake in Accedian Networks Inc., which monitors network performance in real-time.
The investment, which takes out prior venture capital partners, is expected to mean “next level” growth for the Canadian company that launched in 2005, employs 250 staff and has a global roster of top tier customers including U.S.-based T-Mobile, South Korea’s SK Telecom Co., and Spain’s Telefonica S.A.
“We really think that with their help we can expand way beyond the current market footprint that we have,” Accedian’s founder and CEO Patrick Ostiguy said.
Accedian essentially acts as a virtual diagnostic tool for complex networks comprised of equipment from various vendors.
Network quality is increasingly critical as people share more data across more devices, so operators need information on where and how data packets travel so they can pinpoint problems and fix them quickly, Ostiguy said.
This is especially true for mobile operators that offer similar phones, plans and coverage and rely on network performance to differentiate themselves among customers that expect to seamlessly download video, have conversations and share files at the same time.
“If you look at their competitive edge, it’s really shifted toward having the fastest network,” he said.
As businesses move to cloud-based systems that store information in remote data centres, data is flooding networks on the corporate side, too.
Accedian said its software helps companies automatically optimize these networks.
Ostiguy said Accedian is already a leader in its niche — it has about a half dozen competitors worldwide — but it plans to use the cash to seek new customers, invest in research and development, and potentially make acquisitions or even go public down the line.
Bridge Growth believes the network monitoring industry is set for growth. It’s basing its forecast on market trends such as the explosion in data usage and the “seismic move to the cloud,” managing principal Alok Singh said in a statement.