Nitel Buying Hypercore Networks, Eyeing More Acquisitions

Nitel is buying Hypercore Networks in an acquisition that strengthens Nitel’s international ambitions and brings together two like-minded channel organizations.

Chicago-based Nitel and Texas-based Hypercore have signed an agreement that will bring Hypercore under the Nitel brand. The companies did not reveal the financial details of the deal, which they say will close in the next few weeks. All of Hypercore’s founders will remain at the combined company, according to Nitel.

Nitel’s Margi Shaw

Nitel CEO Margi Shaw said the acquisition reflects the aggressive expansion Nitel has embarked on following its private equity investment from Cinven. The carrier is expanding its network-as-a-service and cybersecurity offerings as well as its international capabilities.

“Our goal is to grow the business aggressively to expand our service footprint and product lines,” Shaw told Channel Futures.

Shaw said talks with Hypercore commenced earlier in 2022.

“I was extremely impressed with the breadth of their product lines, as well as the growth that they’ve achieved in a six-year period of time,” she said.

Differences and Similarities

Hypercore and Nitel resemble each other in a few key ways, executives told Channel Futures. They said both providers offer a deep national network connectivity footprint. However, Shaw said Hypercore has established strong international contracts that will support Nitel’s ambitions for international expansion. In addition, Hypercore runs a network operations and service delivery center in Costa Rica, which diversifies Nitel’s operational footprint as well.

“We’re also building out international POPs and expanding our global footprint. So we can leverage all of that work that Hypercore has done,” she said.

Both deliver managed services in SD-WAN and cybersecurity.

“We overlap to some degree on platforms, but there is some best-in-breed in the platforms that between the two companies we’ll start to build more capabilities around,” Shaw said.

However, Hypercore’s portfolio differs in that it provides a deeper set of voice services. That includes a NetSapiens-based feature server and platform.

Hypercore’s Josh Dickinson

“[Voice is] something we’ve never really spent very much time on. We’re looking forward to having those voice services added into the product line,” Shaw said.

For Hypercore and its chief revenue officer, Josh Dickinson, Nitel possesses automation and APIs that Hypercore lacked. Dickinson said Nitel’s capabilities will enable “one-click automation” that customers and partners haven’t experienced before.

“It saves five days off the provisioning process immediately for Hypercore,” Dickinson told Channel Futures.

Shaw said Hypercore also was following an ambitious growth plan.

“And the proof is in the pudding,” she said. “They’ve really been able to grow their business aggressively.”

She also noted that Hypercore, like Nitel, has built strong relationships in the agent community.

Channel Impact

Shaw and Dickinson agreed that the companies’ channel strategies resemble each other’s. Both describe themselves as channel-only.

They said Hypercore and Nitel largely partner with …