WANDisco secures advanced technology partner status with Amazon Web Services

Sheffield-based WANdisco is a big data specialist which helps some of the world’s largest firms transfer information from servers into the cloud.

WANdisco announced that it has raised around $17.5m through its existing shareholders and has also enjoyed a strong end to the year.

WANdisco also revealed that it has received Advanced Technology Partner status with Amazon Web Services in the AWS Partner Network.

In a statement, WANdisco said: “The Advanced Technology Partner designation is the highest tier for technology partners that provide software and internet solutions in the AWS Partner Network. WANdisco achieved its status through a rigorous qualification process, based on referenceable customers on the AWS Platform and strict technical guidelines.”

WANdisco Fusion helps organisations move large volumes of data while meeting regulatory requirements.

David Richards, chief executive officer and interim chairman of WANdisco, commented: “Our new accreditation with AWS represents a major advancement in our relationship.

“We recently launched LiveData for MultiCloud and won our first contract.

“We worked directly with AWS on that subscription contract where Fusion was deployed to enable continuous replication of data across multiple Amazon cloud environments and locations.

“This new status strengthens our relationship and significantly expands our sales channel opportunities.”

WANdisco said its revenues for the 2018 financial year are expected to be in line with board expectations.

In a statement, WANdisco said: “The company had a strong end to the year winning contracts across a variety of end-markets and partners, including through Microsoft, IBM and Amazon Web Services.

“Increasingly, these contracts are subscription based, with the opportunity to scale the annualised value of recurring revenues over time.

“The company anticipates a cash balance of approximately $10.7 million, as at December 31 2018.”

Mr Richards added: “In 2018 we planned to expand our partner ecosystem and fully leverage the power of this sales model, while carefully controlling our costs.

“Our momentum in the second half has continued into January and our sales pipeline is the largest in the company’s history.

“All of which, gives me confidence in our prospects for 2019 and beyond.

“The $17.5 million placing announced today is an excellent example of the group’s momentum, providing us with additional funding to leverage a number of significant opportunities to expand our existing partner relationships.”

Mr Richards also believes that business leaders should give something back to the local community.

In 2017, Mr Richards revealed he was donating $1.5m to help children get ready for “real world” jobs in a booming, well-paid sector desperate for people.

He has set up the David and Jane Richards Family Foundation after growing frustrated with the Government’s focus on coding in computer classes, a job he believes will increasingly be done by artificial intelligence.

In Silicon Valley, where he lives, it is common for tech founders to spend their wealth this way, he added. The foundation is running hands-on courses to teach pupils how to use applications to manipulate and analyse huge amounts of data.