Vexed acquires Future Platforms
Big news from me: Future Platforms has been acquired by Vexed Digital.
Vexed is the agency that my old boss, Richard Davies, set up a few years after leaving Good Technology, and the core team there is the old team from GT. My first foray into mobile in 1999 was when I set up GT Unwired, a division of GT which Just Did Mobile, so this feels a little bit like a return home for FP.
Vexed are talented and experienced folks with some great customers and stronger management skills than I've been able to bring to FP. They also know us well - Richard has sat on our advisory board and provided a shoulder to cry on, on occasion. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do together. The is *definitely* going to be the year that mobile takes off ;)
We're going to start by harmonising where we can (sharing tools and processes, mainly), and are already collaborating on some pleasantly large projects, but FP will remain a separate entity and brand - based in Brighton and employing everyone who works there today. We'll also have facilities in London available to us, which might please those of our customers who have trouble enjoying the Brighton/Victoria line.
As for me: I'm going to carry on working for the business part time, and am filling otherwise empty hours with a return to academia: last week I started on the Advanced Computer Science MSc which Sussex University have begun offering this year.
The ride's not over yet, but it feels remiss of me not to thank everyone who's worked hard to get FP to this point: that'll be everyone who's worked for us, everyone who's still there, and our advisors over the years. In particular I should call out my original co-conspirator Mr Gooby (who shares the blame for FP) and Mr Falletti, who's kept me upright and out of trouble for the last 6 years.