Node4 expands Microsoft expertise with TNP buy

Managed service provider Node4 has moved to bolster its reach with the acquisition of Microsoft partner TNP (The NAV|365 People).

TNP, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 specialist, is one of the main players in the vendor’s UK channel and will add more muscle to Node4’s market ambitions. It comes with a 500-strong customer base and expertise around some areas that will add more depth to its new parent’s offering.

The plan is to run TNP as an individual business under the Node4 Group ownership with a management team headed up by executive chairman Paul White, chief commercial officer Paul Wellingham and founder and chief architect Ian Humphries. The businesses’ 260 staff will also remain in place. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

TNP will add more Microsoft expertise to Node4 and, in return, it will get access to its new parent’s portfolio of cloud-based infrastructure services and support.

“TNP is a hugely impressive organisation and this acquisition is an important part of our ongoing growth strategy,” said Andrew Gilbert, CEO of Node4. “Everything from its leadership and team to culture and capabilities resonates with the approach we have here at Node4.

“They have an ambitious and compelling organic growth plan in an important segment of the technology industry and TNP’s technical capabilities and credentials in NAV, Business Central and Power Platform ideally complement Node4’s already comprehensive portfolio of services. We are confident that together, we can deliver the market-leading end-to-end services that customers are increasingly looking for.”

Paul White, executive chairman of TNP, said the business could develop more under the ownership of Node4. “This announcement is another exciting development in the TNP story,” he added. “It was clear from the outset that we share a common passion for delivering exceptional service and, as part of Node4, we can play a major role in the ongoing growth of the Node4 business and help more customers use technology more effectively to optimise their business processes and improve productivity.”

Meanwhile, consolidation has happened elsewhere in the industry, with security player Rapid7 spending $335m in cash and stock to acquire threat intelligence and remediation player IntSights Cyber Intelligence.

“Cyber security is a lopsided battle today and the odds consistently favour attackers,” said Corey Thomas, chairman and CEO of Rapid7. “Both IntSights and Rapid7 have a shared belief that organisations will succeed only when they have a unified view of internal and external threats, complete with contextualised intelligence and automated threat mitigation, which will allow security teams to focus on the most critical threats.”

Guy Nizan, co-founder and CEO at IntSights, said the firm would be in a position to take its threat intelligence offering out to a wider audience: “We founded IntSights to make threat intelligence instantly accessible and actionable for organisations of any type or size. We are excited to join Rapid7 to continue this mission and to bring our threat intelligence capabilities to even more customers.”