Victoria Network Companies in Major Merger

Times Colonist

Two Victoria-based companies have joined forces to create a national network technology leader.

Charter said Monday it has acquired Boardwalk Communications in a deal that will combine executives and staff of about 80 in Victoria and serve hundreds of customers across Canada. No financial details were disclosed.

Charter has grown over the past 19 years into one of Canada’s leading information-technology network providers. The company builds, maintains and operates secure, high performance communications networks and data-centre infrastructures for some of the most critical networks in the country.

Charter is also a reseller of Juniper and Avaya network products. By acquiring Boardwalk, it will add Cisco products to its array. Boardwalk, founded in 2002, has consistently been one of the top Cisco network integrators in Western Canada, in terms of growth, with large health-care and Fortune 200 customers as clients.

“An opportunity to continue and potentially accelerate our growth with a company like Charter that is so similar to ours in many ways was something we could not pass up,” said Boardwalk president Philip Stone, who along with cofounder Andries Louber will also be joining the Charter management team.

Charter president Kelly Michell called it “a coming together of highly recognized, industry-respected, likeminded organizations with well-aligned values and operating principles.”

“With very little overlap in the marketplace, the companies’ combined strength and focus means we can offer the best in technology solutions with the highest degree of engineering expertise and customer service.”

Charter also announced the appointment of Steven Kinsey as vice-president of strategy and planning to help drive growth in new markets. Kinsey most recently served as the vice-president of sales and operations for Western Canada at Cisco Systems Canada.