The 451 Group Announces the Acquisition of Tech:Touchstone

- Acquisition of International Events Company Tech:Touchstone, Now Part of The 451 Group Events, Strengthens The 451 Group's Ability To Offer Events on a Global Basis

NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The 451 Group, the corporate parent of 451 Research, Uptime Institute and Yankee Group, today announced the acquisition of Tech:Touchstone, a UK-based events company cofounded in 2007 by ex-Gartner executive Simeon Turner. Tech:Touchstone events facilitate in-person sharing of insight between senior IT executives and create an environment where they have an opportunity to learn directly from their most trusted sources of information – peers and industry analysts. Event themes include critical IT topics such as virtualization, cloud computing and information security and emerging issues such as big data and the mobile enterprise.  Post-acquisition, Tech:Touchstone will become part of The 451 Group Events division, and Mr. Turner will become Managing Director, 451 Group Events, reporting to The 451 Group's Chief Marketing Officer, Christopher M. Hill. The 451 Group Events is charged with producing all of the firm's events, including Uptime Institute Symposium, now in its eighth year, and the 451 Research Hosting & Cloud Transformation Summit in Europe and North America, now in its ninth year - as well as current Tech:Touchstone events and new events developed for the company globally. Moving forward, The 451 Group will expand the locations of its events throughout Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe and in other geographical areas, reflecting the global nature of the firm's business and clientele.         

Commenting on the acquisition, The 451 Group's Chairman and CEO, Martin V. McCarthy, said:

"We are delighted to welcome the Tech:Touchstone team to join me and the 225+ current professionals here at The 451 Group. Events are an extremely important part of our thought leadership communication efforts and represent the most powerful opportunity for our professionals from 451 Research, Uptime Institute and Yankee Group to interact with clients and industry leaders on a one-to-one basis. With Simeon Turner and his Tech:Touchstone team, we see an exciting opportunity to significantly extend The 451 Group's events focus as we provide leadership in the evolution of the Digital Infrastructure industry. Tech:Touchstone supports our operating philosophy of long-term, sustainable, profitable, global growth."

Commenting on the acquisition, Tech:Touchstone CEO Simeon Turner said:

"Joining a dynamic and rapidly growing firm like The 451 Group is an exciting opportunity for me and the Tech:Touchstone team, and significantly enhances the value we can bring to our clients. 451 Research, Uptime Institute and The 451 Group's recent addition, Yankee Group, provide the rich source of thought leadership and global presence necessary for a thriving events portfolio that delivers highly valuable, actionable insight and facilitates quality networking for all of our clients. We look forward to ensuring that The 451 Group Events will be the preeminent producer of IT events within the industry."     

About The 451 Group

Headquartered in New York, with offices in key locations – including Boston, San Francisco, Washington DC, London, Seattle, Denver, Sao Paulo, Dubai, Singapore and Moscow – The 451 Group owns and operates 451 Research, a leading technology-industry syndicated research and data firm focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation. The 451 Group also owns and operates Uptime Institute, an independent provider of thought leadership, certification, education and professional services for the global datacenter and emerging Digital Infrastructure industry, and Yankee Group, the preeminent research and advisory firm equipping companies to profit in a mobile world.

About 451 Research

451 Research, a division of The 451 Group, provides syndicated research, data and advisory services focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation. Over 60 publishing 451 Research analysts provide critical and timely insight into the competitive dynamics of innovation in emerging technology segments such as cloud computing, datacenter technologies and Internet infrastructure services. Business value is delivered via daily concise and insightful published research, periodic deeper-dive reports, data tools, market-sizing/share research, analyst advisory, and conferences and events. Clients of the company – at vendor, investor, service-provider and end-user organizations – rely on 451 Research's insight to support both strategic and tactical decision-making.

About Uptime Institute

Uptime Institute, a division of The 451 Group, provides independent thought leadership, certification, education and professional services for the global datacenter and emerging Digital Infrastructure industry. Uptime Institute is best known for its creation and global administration of the Tier Standard for Data Center Design, Construction and Operational Sustainability. It serves all industry stakeholders, but concentrates on enterprise and third-party datacenter owners and operators. IT and facilities equipment manufacturers, service providers, design engineers and construction firms are also served. Through Uptime Institute Professional Services, Uptime Institute delivers the due diligence assessments and certifications of site infrastructure and site management in accordance with Uptime Institute's industry Tier and Operational Sustainability Standards.

About Yankee Group

Yankee Group, a division of The 451 Group, is the preeminent research and advisory firm equipping companies to profit in a mobile world. The core of its content is proprietary research and analytics on the attitudes, behaviors, and usage patterns of mobile users. Based on this research, Yankee provides a range of actionable data, insights and advice to marketing, strategy and product executives driving the mobility revolution at leading companies worldwide.

About Tech:Touchstone

Tech:Touchstone creates business-to-business events for the IT sector where in-person communication is paramount to fully understand complex issues, solutions and value propositions. The company's portfolio of events is focused on areas of strategic industry debate and growth market sectors, with the aim of creating a collaborative learning environment for time-strapped IT executives and to facilitate high-value, quality interaction between all participants.