Blue Central managing director, Peter Ikladios
Australian IT solutions and services provider and IPMG company, Blue Central, has named Peter Ikladios as its new managing director. Ikladios replaces George Kazangi, who recently launched a partner-focused technical services business named Four Nines.
The appointment of Ikladios comes with Blue Central’s acquisition of technology solutions provider, Virtual Consulting Professionals (VCPro). VCPro was started about eight years ago, focusing primarily on the consulting space for virtualisation, managed services, and EUC.
As per the terms of the acquisition, VCPro will be rolled up into Blue Central and the company will maintain all skillsets across the company.
Ikladios was VCPro’s director, a role he held for more than seven years.
“Over a period of time, we looked at the strategy and had a look at where the market was going. Cloud was leading the way and we thought we should partner with someone that has a Cloud. That strategy led to us being acquired by Blue Central,” he told ARN.
Ikladios said VCPro was also trying to get into the enterprise business space and with a history in the enterprise hosting market, Blue Central’s acquisition of the company will let deliver a valuable new set of services and capabilities to its Australian customers.
“As an SMB, Cloud is a huge expense to roll out. By integrating VCPro’s assets and services, Blue Central can now provide a new range of services – consulting, managed services – and solutions to deliver hybrid Cloud offerings to customers. The channel can benefit from this hybrid capabilities.
“We’ve got knowledge in the systems integrator space and Blue Central has the Cloud platform, so it’s a perfect match with regards to the acquisition.”
According to Ikladios, VCPro has been a company that puts the customer first. As such, he said he wants to roll out across Blue Central a focus on that strategy.
“I’m excited by the opportunity to take the helm at Blue Central and help our customers gain better results from their technology. Many Australian businesses are confused by the complexities IT presents, and as a result, are not gaining maximum benefit from their investment.
“Our new strategy and direction means customers can now work with Blue Central as a one-stop shop for all their technology needs, simplifying the IT process,” he mentioned.
Ikladios brings to the role 20 years of experience in technical leadership roles. Prior to VCPro, he held senior roles with local IT services businesses including Defence Force Recruiting, KAZ Group, and Ernst and Young.
IPMG chief strategy officer, Benoit Droulez, said Ikladios’ experience and VCPro’s areas of specialisation perfectly complement Blue Central’s core strengths.
“The enhanced capabilities of the merged businesses give us the opportunity to expand our footprint outside of the managed hosting market and bring more value to our existing customer base.
“At the same time, we will be able to reach new customers in high value industries like telecommunications, government and education,” he added.
Blue Central completes its acquisition of VCPro on June 30.
