Wheelings & Dealings: Arkadin Acquires Colombia-Based T-Uno, Expands into Latin America

By Clayton Hamshar
Contributing Writer

Arkadin (News - Alert), a France-based provider of integrated audio, video, web and Unified Communications (UC) solutions and a subsidiary of NTT Communications, recently announced its acquisition of T-Uno (News - Alert), a Colombia-based company specializing in remote collaboration solutions including technologies such as audio, Web and video conferencing and webcasting. Arkadin delivers business solutions from its global network of offices spanning 34 countries, whereas T-Uno primarily operates in the governmental and educational markets throughout Latin America.

As a result of the acquisition, Arkadin plans to offer its cloud-based collaboration solutions to Colombian businesses alongside T-Uno’s existing offerings. Arkadin’s global infrastructure with first-class data centers guarantee reliability and stability as well as high-quality audio and video communications capabilities. T-Uno, with its strong presence in the region and highly trusted thought leadership, has access to a knowledgeable customer base and will help the merged companies scale quickly and effectively. The merged companies will operate out of T-Uno’s existing facilities in Bogota, Colombia.

“This is a highly strategic acquisition that will pave the way to do business in Colombia and accelerate our Latin American expansion overall,” said Thomas Valantin, Arkadin Managing Director for Latin America. “T-Uno has an excellent reputation as one of the only pure collaboration service providers in the region. Our mutual vision for product and service excellence in this fast growing market, which is increasingly attracting global companies, provides unlimited potential.”

The Colombian collaboration services market is expected to grow by more than 31 percent over the next five years, according to a recent report from Wainhouse (News - Alert) Research. The country’s rapidly developing economy has created a need for cutting-edge technology, which naturally attracts large global players like Arkadin with some of the highest-quality audio and video services on the market.

“Arkadin's leadership and large footprint in the global Collaboration and Unified Communications (News - Alert) market give us tremendous leverage as we seek to grow our operations locally and throughout Latin America,” said T-Uno CEO and founder Nicolas Gompf.

Financial details of the acquisition have not been announced, but T-Uno will eventually be completely absorbed into Arkadin’s global operations.