Derby-based data center operator Node4 has completed its acquisition of Reading-based cloud infrastructure player Letn Solutions, in a bid to gain more coverage in the South of England.

Letn will now become Node4's Reading office and its employees are now part of Node4.

Steve Denby and Gregg Mearing, Letn’s co-founders have joined Node4’s management team.

The acquisition extends Node4’s cloud portfolio by adding Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), disaster recovery and virtualization service offerings.

NetApp specialist Letn is one of only 18 companies qualified as one of the storage vendor’s authorized support partners (ASPs) in the UK.

Letn customers will now be offered Node4 services, such as colocation, connectivity and communication packages.

As a data center specialist, Node4 is increasing emphasis in cloud services, said Node4 MD Andrew Gilbert.

There is a belief in the industry that a cloud offering gives the data center operator a chance to differentiate in an increasingly competitive market, he said.

Consolidation, between a data center firm and a cloud operator makes sense in a maturing market, if they can find the right fit.

“There is a common belief in technology and customer focus that will provide great synergy between our two businesses,” Gilbert said.

“Given our regional business model, Letn’s location in the South is of great strategic benefit to Node4.”

Letn’s co-founder and chairman David Mearing said consolidation will be good for customers as the cloud and the data center converge.

“Customers of both organizations will benefit from an enhanced service with greater choice,” Mearing said.

In May Node4 launched a partnership with business continuity vendor Zerto, whose software is designed for virtualized infrastructures, to offer Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service via its N4Cloud infrastructure.