The financial terms of the transaction between the two businesses are not being disclosed.

Eco is close to completing building its new state-of-the-art HQ at Annan, employs more than 50 people. Integrity IT Solutions, founded in 2009 by managing director Andrew Fisher, is based on Rosehill Industrial Estate, Carlisle and employs eight people.

The deal means Eco and Integrity will be able to offer advanced services so customers can quickly and efficiently modernise their IT and communications infrastructure.

Mike Jefferson, director and head of Eco’s Comms division for Communications and IT, said: “Customers will be able to take advantage of the latest communications connectivity, and IT technologies from a single supplier, with decreased risk, limited disruption, and reduced cost, time and effort.

“Our job is to take the pain out of an organisation’s communication requirements through our dedicated business mobile and IT support teams.

“We provide a full range of communications and IT solutions to support the needs of our customers, from mobile solutions to hosted telephony. Whatever our customers need, wherever they are, we will keep them connected.”

Eco continues to accelerate its focus on investing in associated technologies and related proposals, along with recruiting quality staff to support its expansion.”

Mr Anderson added: “Even through the pandemic Eco has embraced the need to grow to support the economy, not only by recruiting, but by helping businesses and individuals with their technology and connectivity needs through lockdowns and shielding.

“Many clients, including the NHS, have requested our support and we are delighted to be able to offer the solutions to help.”

Andrew Fisher, owner of Integrity IT Solutions, said: “Integrity sees the use of IT as fundamental to business success, however many organisations are stuck in a break/fix model and struggle to maintain a forward-thinking IT strategy.

“Our managed IT services are built on a partnership – Integrity IT solutions take the time to understand a business and its future plans before we recommend a solution to suit its requirements.

“We serve the market with much-needed expertise and can provide tailored support with an underlying long-term strategy in place. From personal computers and laptops to fault tolerant network infrastructure with clustered servers and stacked switches providing 99.99% uptime, Integrity IT provides a complete turn-key solution.”

He added: “Our clients range from small businesses to larger organisations with more than 1,500 users, meaning that our industry experience and expertise enables us to build an IT solution which fits each individual company’s needs and budget.

“Over the past twelve years, we have had the incredible privilege of supporting our clients’ IT development, and we look forward to delivering even greater value as a part of Eco.”

Darcie Rae from Armstrong Watson’s Corporate Finance team acted as lead adviser on the sale; Andrew Hill and Kate Parker of Baines Wilson provided legal advice to Eco with Vaughan Jones and Becky Brook from Burnetts advising Integrity.