Dimension Data Holdings

Dimension Data

Type	Private
Industry	Information technology
Founded	1983
Headquarters	Johannesburg, South Africa
Area served	Global
Key people	Jeremy Ord (Chairman) Jason Goodall (CEO)
Products	Data centre
Services	Managed services System integration Consulting Security Education and learning
Revenue	$7.5 billion (2014)
Number of employees	30,000
Parent	Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
Subsidiaries	17 subsidiaries AccessKenya, AlwaysOn, ContinuitySA, earthwave, Euricom, Internet Solutions, JQ Network, Merchants, Nexus, NextiraOne, Oakton, Plessey, Security Assessment, SQL Services, Training Partners, Viiew
Website	www.dimensiondata.com

Dimension Data is a company specialising in information technology services. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company maintains operations on every inhabited continent. Dimension Data focuses on services including network integration, security and data centres. The company is the official technology partner of the Tour de France and also sponsors a team of the same name. In 2010, the company was fully acquired by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.

Dimension Data was founded in 1983 by Werner Sievers, Jeremy Ord, Peter Neale, and Kevin Hamilton. The company was listed on the on July 15, 1987. Jeremy Ord was appointed as the company's executive chairman in that same year (a position he continued to hold as of 2016). In 1991, the company became the official South African distributor for Cisco Systems.

In 1993, the company expanded to Botswana, and, between 1995 and 1997, it began further expansion into the Asia Pacific region. In 1996, Dimension Data purchased a 45% stake in the Australian company, ComTech. It would later buyout the company fully in 2000. The company also bought a stake in the Australian company, Internet Solutions, in 1996. Dimension Data would increase their stake in the company the following year. Also in 1997 the company purchased majority stakes in The Merchants Group and Datacraft.

Between 1998 and 2000, the company focused its expansion efforts on the northern hemisphere, investing in and acquiring a variety of companies in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. One such acquisition was the 1998 purchase of London-based telecommunications company, Plessey. On July 31, 2000, Dimension Data was listed on the raising $1.25 billion in the process. By 2003, the company's revenue had jumped to $2 billion.