AO SYSTEMS + Services Ireland relaunched this week as Arkphire with a revised business strategy focusing primarily on IT services and a plan to double its headcount to 160 people within two years.
Arkphire had been part of the German-owned IT provider AO Group but returned to Irish ownership following a management buyout in 2009.
The company dates back to 1981 when it was known as Memorex Telex. Following a takeover in 1998, it rebranded itself as EDS Global Services, which itself was acquired by AO in 2006.
Arkphire managing director Paschal Naylor led the original Memorex Telex business in Ireland. Sales director Tony Quinn was country manager for EMC and technical director Howard Roberts held senior positions with Sabeo Technologies and Xnet.
Arkphire changed its name to avoid competing with other AO groups in the UK and Europe, because it plans to develop its business in those markets. The UK already represented about 10 per cent of sales on the back of long-term relationships with customers in the health sector, Mr Naylor said.
Sales into continental Europe would mainly come via multinational customers that had their headquarters in Ireland and wanted to carry out IT upgrades in other offices, Mr Naylor said.
Arkphire’s business is divided into IT solutions and services, service management and products supply and logistics management.
Mr Naylor said the company’s products division remained profitable, but it had invested significantly in technical accreditations for its staff to provide in-depth technical consulting which could provide higher margins.
He said the company anticipated opportunities for its product business on the back of some services contracts, particularly among customers which prefer to deal with small numbers of suppliers.
Arkphire’s topline revenues grew “significantly” over the past year, said Mr Naylor. The company forecasts sales of more than €20 million by the end of 2013.
Arkphire employs 80 people in Dublin, Cork and London, which it hopes to double within two years.
It has also opted not to invest in a cloud-computing data centre. Instead, it sees itself as assessing customers’ IT infrastructure and advising on which elements are suitable to move to cloud computing and which are not.
