Tech entrepreneur buys firm’s website-hosting division

By PETER RANSCOMBE
Published on 29/07/2012 00:00

SERIAL technology entrepreneur Graham Duncan has snapped up a website-hosting business in Glasgow.

Duncan’s latest venture, Broadband Cloud Solutions (BCS), is paying a “six-figure sum” to buy the hosting division of NSDesign, the marketing company that lists Highland Spring, law firm Harper Macleod and Scottish Enterprise among its clients.

Under the deal, NSDesign founder Gary Ennis will take a 10 per cent stake in BCS.

Duncan, still best known for his time as chief executive of Atlantic Telecom, a victim of the dotcom crash, set up 
Aim-quoted Pinnacle in Dalkeith in February 2002, just months after the collapse of Atlantic Telecom.

He stood down as chairman of Pinnacle in March 2010 
and was succeeded by fellow telecoms veteran Bill Allan, the former chief executive of Thus.

Duncan said the takeover deal was part of his strategy to build up his latest business by serving small and medium-sized companies and people working from home.

Ennis added: “In recent years, NSDesign has become known for its social media training and consultancy work. Selling our hosting division will allow us to concentrate on this growing and profitable area of our business.”

Cloud computing involves software and files being stored on a central server and accessed via the internet, instead of programs and information being kept on individual 
computer terminals.

Homegrown outfits leading the charge into cloud computing include Glasgow-based Iomart, Inchinnan’s Amor Group and Pulsant, the Edinburgh-based technology firm that emerged from Scottish internet service provider Ednet.

Foreign firms are also getting in on the act, with Stockholm-listed Proact last month opening a European operations centre in Bellshill.

In April, London-based Cloudreach opened an office in Edinburgh, while Minneapolis-based EnStratus is also opening its European head 
office in the Scottish capital.