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SOUTH Business THE M A GA ZINE TM Scott Dobson


Year of Birth: 1967 Residence: Thames Valley


Business: Cloud Distribution – Started in August 2009 by Scott Dobson, Cloud Distribution had a turnover of £9.6 million in 2013, and has appeared in the most recent Sunday Times Tech Track 100.


With a wealth of experience in the security and network infrastructure space, Dobson and his fellow director Greg Harris saw that cloud computing would be a major growth area in IT


Business Location: Theale Turnover and year: £9.6m in 2013 Description: Technology entrepreneur and founder of Cloud Distribution


Commentary: Scott Dobson graduated from Brunel University in 1990, and worked with Logitek and then Compass Computer Group before gaining a reputation in sales at Data Connectivity. In 2000, he moved on to vice-president of Europe, Middle East and Africa for Expand Networks, before founding VCOMM, a Newbury-based value-added distributor specialising in telephony integration technologies, which was acquired by Siphon Networks in 2013.


Dobson set up Cloud Distribution when he saw that cloud-based technologies were the next big thing. As he says: “Our unique DNA, based on a small company ethos, focuses on unrivalled customer service. We pride ourselves in being incredibly agile, flexible, and responsive. We are also extremely passionate about the innovative technologies we bring to market.”


Quote: “Here at Cloud Distribution, we dare to be different.”


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Matt Hawkins


Year of Birth: 1975 Residence: Dorset


Business: Hawkins founded C4L in 2000 and has built it to a £12.2 million business. He retains a shareholding of over 90%


C4L is one of the south’s fastest-growing companies, and is listed as 12th fastest growing in the UK over the past five years Business Location: Poole, Dorset Turnover and year: £12.2m in 2013 Description: Technology entrepreneur and founder of C4L


Commentary: Hawkins takes risks; he actively participates in extreme sports, from snowboarding and rock climbing to kick boxing. It is this fearlessness that has led him to build the UK’s largest aggregated data centre footprint and privately-owned data centre network.


Graduating from Brunel University in 1997 with a 2:1 in Computing in Business, Hawkins founded C4L initially as an ISP and website design agency. Two years later, the company started delivering internet access to other data centre customers, and was soon building its own network.


Today, C4L's headquarters occupy four floors of the prestigious County Gates House situated on the borders of Bournemouth and Poole. C4L also


owns its own data centre, housing 15,000 sq ft of highly sensitive data for banks, businesses and technology companies from across the UK and Europe.


Hawkins is described on C4L’s website as a “highly-motivated workaholic with a burning ambition to help save our planet”.


His company is a Solent 250 company, and has won numerous Dorset and regional business awards.


Quote: “C4L’s growth did not happen overnight and has taken dedicated time and effort to reach the success it has now.”


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – OCTOBER 2014


www.businessmag.co.uk


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