iomart: how hybrid cloud and Microsoft 365 projects connect its services
A cloud project can begin with an awkward practical problem: a software company needs to host customers’ data in different places, or a merger leaves thousands of employees spread across separate Microsoft environments. Two customer stories published by iomart in July 2026 show how its business reaches from the servers underneath an application to the accounts people use at work.
Founded in 1998, the AIM-listed group has expanded through acquisitions into cloud infrastructure, hosting and managed IT services. Its current offering combines its own UK facilities with expertise in Microsoft technologies. That combination becomes easier to understand when viewed through the work being done for customers.
CoreStream: choosing where an application runs
CoreStream develops governance, risk and compliance software for organisations with demanding requirements around data handling. According to iomart’s July case study, the relationship began in 2017 after CoreStream outgrew its previous provider.
Its requirements extend beyond adding computing capacity. Customers care about where their information is hosted and how it is managed, with expectations varying across jurisdictions. The arrangement brings together iomart’s private cloud and VMware expertise with Microsoft Azure capabilities from Atech, a company within the group.
This gives CoreStream access to both private cloud infrastructure and Azure expertise as customer needs change. The case study also describes dedicated operational and commercial contacts: a useful part of a service when a hosting decision involves several technologies and teams. It does not provide a quantified performance improvement or savings figure.
PortmanDentex: bringing almost 8,000 users together
The problem at dental group PortmanDentex was different. Growth and its merger with Dentex had left a fragmented collection of Microsoft 365 and third-party environments. That complicated collaboration, licensing and administration across a business supporting around 370 practices in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Atech consolidated the Microsoft environment into one tenant for almost 8,000 users. A tenant is the organisation’s administrative environment within Microsoft 365; bringing users together allows the IT team to manage a more unified workplace.
In its July 2026 account of the project, iomart reports more than £100,000 in Microsoft licensing savings and over £20,000 secured through Microsoft funding programmes. These are reported outcomes for this customer, rather than a standard saving promised to every organisation.
The continuing relationship includes work around Teams, SharePoint, Azure and planning for Microsoft Fabric. The immediate achievement was the consolidation itself, creating a simpler environment from which to pursue those further projects.
What sits behind the managed cloud offering
iomart offers hosted and managed private cloud, managed Azure services and its own multi-tenant cloud platform built on VMware Cloud Foundation. Private cloud options include hosted or on-premises environments, with managed and self-managed choices.
The physical infrastructure remains part of the story. iomart says it owns 12 UK data centres, with locations including London, Glasgow, Manchester, Maidenhead and Nottingham. Its facilities support hosting, storage and disaster recovery, alongside connectivity and engineering support. A customer using those facilities is buying into a different operating arrangement from a business asking Atech to reorganise Microsoft 365.
The infrastructure behind the cloud service
iomart’s infrastructure is not limited to a single hosted platform. The group says it owns and operates 12 UK data centres and has 25 global points of presence. Its data-centre services include colocation, connectivity, storage, cloud services and disaster-recovery support. Those facilities give the group a physical base for customers that need hosting or private-cloud capacity instead of relying only on a public-cloud account.
The company presents several cloud options around that infrastructure. Its managed private-cloud service can be hosted or on-premises and can be managed by iomart or self-managed by the customer. Its managed iomart public cloud is a multi-tenant platform built on VMware Cloud Foundation. Managed Azure sits alongside those options for customers using Microsoft’s public cloud. The CoreStream case shows why a customer may use more than one of them at once.
VMware is a particularly important part of iomart’s current positioning. The group says it holds Broadcom VMware Pinnacle Partner status and offers VMware Cloud Foundation in its UK data centres. Its own materials describe this as a route for customers and managed-service partners facing VMware licensing and platform changes, while retaining a private or hybrid-cloud operating model.
Atech brought Microsoft capability into the group
iomart acquired Atech in 2024. The addition helps explain why the group’s current offer combines infrastructure with Microsoft workplace, security and Azure work. In the PortmanDentex project, Atech handled the Microsoft 365 tenant consolidation. In the CoreStream relationship, Atech provides Microsoft Azure expertise while iomart supplies private-cloud and VMware capability.
The arrangement is more than a change of logo. A customer with a legacy hosting requirement may need data-centre capacity and VMware support; a customer integrating acquired businesses may need Microsoft 365 migration and administration; another may need both private infrastructure and Azure. iomart’s group structure is intended to put those different skills within one supplier relationship.
iomart says it has expanded through 25 strategic acquisitions since its 1998 founding, and now has more than 650 staff supporting 10,000 customers in 25 countries. Those group-level figures explain the breadth of the portfolio, but the customer stories remain the clearest picture of how that range is used: CoreStream combines private cloud with Azure expertise, while PortmanDentex uses the group’s Microsoft workplace capability.
Why several brands sit inside iomart
The group’s brands reflect that range. Atech specialises in Microsoft public cloud, workplace technology and security. Oriium supports resellers and channel partners with services including backup, data protection and managed IT. RapidSwitch concentrates on dedicated servers, while Easyspace provides domains, web hosting and email.
Those distinctions help explain why iomart cannot be reduced to a single cloud product. CoreStream needs infrastructure and specialist support for a changing software platform. PortmanDentex needed help joining up the technology inherited through growth. In both cases, the work centres on making existing systems easier to operate while leaving room for the next change. The group’s infrastructure, Microsoft capability and specialist brands are the components it brings to that work in practice.
