FORMER Premier League champions Manchester City will kick off a new era for IT giants ICP Networks with a special ceremony next week.
The Premiership giants will welcome the Cheshire based networking suppliers to Eastlands ahead of their clash with West Bromwich Albion.
ICP Networks will sponsor the Match Ball as part of their celebratory move to new £1 million Headquarters in South Manchester.
The building has already been dubbed the greenest IT HQ in Britain – with the largest commercial solar panel installation in the North West.
Managing Director Matt Archer has personally overseen the move to the custom built offices with more than 16,000 sq ft of warehousing.
He said: “We are quite rightly very proud of ourselves and our new building and we wanted to celebrate – what better way than to partner Manchester City.
“Like Manchester City we are forward thinking, ambitious and we want to be the best. The move to a new Headquarters enables us to further cement our place in the global market.
“We have invested significantly in creating the greenest IT building in the North West – possibly even in the country?
“We care passionately about the environment but we believe ICP Network’s global HQ also proves there are very good business reasons to implement the new technologies.
“Our solar panel installation is already generating huge amounts of electricity – enough to supply us with a surplus that is then sold back into National Grid.
“We will share our experience and expertise with our partners at Manchester City – who knows? Maybe they will become the first club in the Premiership with solar panels on or around their stadium?”
ICP Networks are one of the sixth biggest suppliers in the world of networking equipment – with customers around the globe.
They have grown significantly since their launch ten years ago in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and will move to their revolutionary new HQ in June.
The new headquarters, in Poynton, Cheshire, features South Manchester’s largest commercial solar panel installation.
The 50kW system, installed by The Green Electrician group comprises of more than 65 individual panels. It will provide all of ICP Networks electrical requirements and feed back its surplus power into the National Grid.
Warrington warehousing specialists Jungheinrich were also commissioned to design and construct the custom-built warehousing installation.
ICP Networks supply new and refurbished networking and server-room equipment from all principal manufacturers, such as Cisco, Checkpoint (Nokia), Sun, Nortel, BlueCoat and HP ProCurve.
Mr Archer believes that his company’s relocation, which will see ICP Networks effectively quadruple their warehousing capacity, marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the company.
He added: “Since our foundation in 2002, we’ve been growing steadily year on year.
“Last year saw us turn in our most successful performance yet, it became clear to me that we’d outgrown our current home.”
“The ‘blank canvas’ offered by our new Poynton site really appealed, as we’ve been able to marry our need for growth with our commitment to green, sustainable business.” added Matt.
However, the move to the new premises only forms part of ICP Networks strategy for sustainable quality and best practice.
“Having recently attained our ISO9001:2008, we’re currently working towards our next accreditation, ISO14001:2004, and hope to complete this later in the year” added Mr Archer.
Manchester City – Behind The Scenes
Check out what happened when ICP Networks visited former Premiership champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium – in private – and then in public.
ICP Networks Managing Director Matt Archer and Onside PR founder James Fletcher were treated to a behind the scenes tour at Eastlands.
Then Matt entertained a group of VIP guests for the Manchester City Premiership clash with Everton.
See here for yourself as ICP Networks and Onside PR take you behind the scenes at Manchester City.
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