Interactive buys Australian managed cloud services business of Thales

Australian IT services and consulting firm Interactive has picked up the managed cloud services business from defence giant Thales, which is choosing to focus on its core cybersecurity offering.

Thales bought local cybersecurity firm Tesserent in 2023 for around $185 million, adding a team of approximately 500 employees. Recently, the firm launched a Security Operations Centre (SOC) in Canberra focused on government and critical infrastructure clients.

Now, the Paris-headquartered defence giant has opted to offload its local managed cloud services unit, with Interactive jumping in to bolster its own sovereign cloud offering and continue what has been a busy period since Alex Coates took over as CEO at the start of last year.

“Thales’ Australian managed cloud services unit forms a small part of the our broader cyber offering globally,” a spokesperson told IT industry publication ARN. “We are delighted our partner is taking over the business and will continue to grow and service the Australian market, while we focus on cybersecurity services, products, and cyber sovereign capabilities.”

Established in a garage in Sydney back in 1988 to provide maintenance for IBM computer equipment, Interactive has since morphed into a multi-service business with a team of around 600 across eight Australian offices who support clients with a range of services in cloud, cybersecurity & recovery, data centres, and digital workplace & networking solutions among other areas.

Now, Interactive has further strengthened its capabilities through the purchase of Thales’ managed cloud business (although it wasn’t stated if or how many staff would cross), while extending its customer base and enhancing its public sector capacity to go along with its other major focal points in the financial services, manufacturing, aged care, and professional services sectors.

“The acquisition positions us to meet the growing demand from organisations seeking trusted local partners to run critical, sovereign workloads securely and compliantly, while providing access to Interactive’s broader portfolio of services underpinned by sovereign infrastructure, local expertise, and operational excellence,” Coates said of the deal, adding that it was “an important next step.”

Coates, who took over from now chairman Brendan Fleiter, has been rather busy since assuming the CEO role to drive Interactive’s growth strategy, bringing with her a wealth of IT industry experience including most recently as the managing director of Datacom in Australia, where she spent close to a decade and a half after leading Fujitsu’s managed services business for the ACT.

Among other company developments, Interactive has in recent months launched a sovereign ‘Private Cloud’ platform designed to help organisations take control of their infrastructure, reduce costs, and enable AI innovation with confidence, and a ‘Power Assurance’ division within its IT hardware maintenance practice to better support continuity for power-critical infrastructure.

“It’s exciting to lead an organisation so well-positioned to be able to quickly adjust and deliver on our customers’ evolving needs into its next stage of growth,” Coates said at the time of her appointment. “The DNA of the firm, with its purpose centred around its people and customers, is core to my strong personal purpose of creating impact for Australian organisations.”