OREANDA-NEWS. July 20, 2016. Deloitte has bought systems integrator Sixtree, its fifth acquisition of a technology start-up in 18 months, as it seeks to cope with an explosion of “platform companies” among its clientele, afr.com reported.

Sixtree, which was founded in 2010 by software engineers Ben Wylie, Brett Wilson and Yamen Sader, specialises in integrating companies’ older legacy systems with emerging technologies, such as mobile apps and Internet of Things networks.

Deloitte Consulting managing partner Robert Hillard said the deal came as the firm recognised that soon more than half of its clients would be selling services from cloud platforms rather than physical products, and they needed to offer them different services.

A growing line of business for Sixtree has been the need to integrate sensors across the Internet of Things networks of mining companies, according to chief technology officer Saul Caganoff.

“Mining companies don’t tend to buy their capital equipment from one provider, and without a platform integration all these state-of-the-art sensors won’t talk to each other, nor back to the core platform, and will be useless,” he said.

The company also specialises in the application of integration tools including those from MuleSoft, Red Hat, Elastic, and Amazon Web Services.

 Sixtree represents Deloitte’s fifth acquisition or alliance with a technology start-up in the past 18 months, and Mr Hillard expected a similar pace to continue into the future.

“We grow a lot by bringing new DNA into our organisation and we won’t stop,” Mr. Saganoff said.