Yorktel Continues Video Channel Expansion With U.K. VAR Acquisition

Fast rising solution provider Yorktel, which focuses on videoconferencing and video managed services, has acquired First Connections, a U.K.-based videoconferencing partner, the company said Tuesday.

Yorktel, based in Eatontown, N.J., has about 350 employees worldwide and last year posted more than $100 million in revenue. It established an inaugural European office in Windsor, England, in 2006, and will now pick up First Connections' eight offices in the U.K. and Ireland, including its Basingstoke, U.K. headquarters.

First Connection is a Cisco Advanced Technology Partner and Polycom Platinum Reseller, and in 2011 copped Cisco's Telepresence Partner of the Year for the EMEA region. Keith Gyford, First Connections' founder, will become COO for Yorktel EMEA, and David Berger will run Yorktel's combined European operations as Managing Director, EMEA, reporting to Yorktel President and COO David Phillips.

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"The similar expertise in video conferencing integration and aligned offerings of Yorktel and First Connections make this union an ideal and natural next step in the ongoing growth of our company," Ron Gaboury, Yorktel's CEO, said in a statement. "We are excited to join forces with First Connections' top-notch staff and share our focus at Yorktel on 'making video work.'"

Yorktel is among a handful of nationally-known videoconferencing solution providers, including IVCi and AVI-SPL, that have spent the past two years making substantial investments in expansion and also growing their video managed services practices.

Formerly York Telecom, the company rebranded as Yorktel in November 2011, and in January, introduced a new suite of cloud-based video conferencing services focused on connectivity regardless of device, location or video protocol.

Yorktel worked with Whitehawk Securities for the acquisition, the company said. Financial terms weren't provided.