Vodafone Acquires Bluefish Communications

RNS Number : 1389T

Vodafone Group Plc

01 December 2011

 



1 December 2011

Vodafone acquires Bluefish Communications

Acquisition significantly enhances Vodafone's Unified Communications expertise

Vodafone Global Enterprise - the business within Vodafone which manages the communications needs of its largest multinational customers - is strengthening its professional services arm through the acquisition of European IT and communications consultancy, Bluefish Communications Ltd.

Bluefish will form the nucleus of a new Unified Communications and Collaboration practice within Vodafone Global Enterprise, which will focus on advising multinational companies on how to get the most from their mobile, fixed line and IT services, as well as offering guidance on the adoption of cloud services.

The practice will also advise large corporate customers on how new collaboration services, such as video conferencing and presence awareness, can boost their business's performance.

Unified Communications seeks to make fixed and mobile communications more efficient, optimise and reduce costs, and enable better collaboration between employees, business partners and clients.

Bluefish has been recognised as one of the fastest growing technology companies in both the UK and Europe.  The acquisition will expand Bluefish's geographical reach as it becomes part of Vodafone Global Enterprise's global network.

Further services on offer to Vodafone's multinational customers will include:

•           An audit of existing infrastructure and future communication needs.

•           Advice on moving to a communications strategy that spans mobile, fixed line and IT.

•           Management of system integrators and vendors to ensure an effective and unified communications 
network closely aligned to business strategy.

Nick Jeffery, CEO of Vodafone Global Enterprise said: "The acquisition of Bluefish further develops our expertise in unified communications and broadens the range of services we can offer to our multinational customers. Having the right information at the right time, in the right place, has never been more important to business success and this acquisition will enhance our ability to advise multinationals on how to maximise value from their communications."

The value of the gross assets being acquired is £3.14m.

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About Vodafone

Vodafone is one of the world's largest mobile communications companies by revenue with approximately 391 million customers in its controlled and jointly controlled markets as at 30 September 2011. Vodafone currently has equity interests in over 30 countries across five continents and more than 40 partner networks worldwide.  For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com.

About Vodafone Global Enterprise

Vodafone Global Enterprise provides managed communications services to many of the world's leading global companies. It supports communications wherever its customers are present:  in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States.  Vodafone was positioned in the "Leaders" quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Pan-Western European Mobile Service Providers and the Magic Quadrant for Telecom Expense Management.

www.enterprise.vodafone.com.

About Bluefish Communications

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Reading, UK, Bluefish is a technology consultancy and professional services company specialising in the delivery of complex projects, service design and technical architecture.  It delivers a strong capability in IT networking and applications in particular in Unified Communications design and implementation and hosted (cloud) portfolio design and implementation.

Bluefish is independently recognised as the market leader in its field:

•           Sunday Times Tech Track 100 "Fastest growing UK technology companies", 3 consecutive years 
2007, 2008, 2009

•           Deloitte fast 50, 2010 UK's fastest growing technology companies

•           Deloitte fast 500, 2010 EMEA's fastest growing technology companies

Bluefish services are concentrated in three areas, Consulting, Resourcing and Outsourcing.  Consulting - preparing business cases, delivering transition and transformation services, business improvement, service management, solutions architecture and generally solving business challenges and technology deployment issues.  Resourcing - supporting our clients when they need a specific skill, either filling an interim gap or augmenting a client's team. Outsourcing - when a client transfers an operational or service process to Bluefish and buys back a managed service, often involving service improvement, a reduction in costs and the transfer of staff and assets from the client to Bluefish. 

For further information:

Vodafone Group
Media Relations Tel: [phone]	Investor Relations Tel: [phone]

 

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