Our History

CMS TIMELINE

We are proud of our rich and interesting history which spans over 3 decades. Follow our journey on the map below to see how we have adapted to meet the demands of an ever-changing technological landscape and continue to innovate in a digital world.

Download CMS Timeline

1988

CMS was founded in London by Frank Salmon under the name of CMS Peripherals with the ambition to become the United Kingdom and Ireland's largest independent storage distributor.

Megalink

The first CMS solution under its own brand was a 5.25” external floppy disk drive called Megalink, which enabled data interchange with the new 3.5” diskettes, followed by an external tape drive.

1990

Transition

Transitioned from a small system integrator to an ambitious value-added Distributor of data storage products.

1991

8 Employees and Sales of £1M+

1993

Launched CMS Peripherals in Ireland

CMS wins "European Distributor of the Year" - Colorado Memory Systems

1994

30 Employees and Sales of £10M+

1998

75 Employees and Sales of £50M+

2004

140 Employees and Sales of £100M+

2011

173 Employees and Sales of £100M+

Acquisition of CCI Distribution (UK)

2012

182 Employees and Sales of £113M+

SAP System Integration - Changed our Operational Excellence

Re-defined our core values and launched the POPE values – People, Operational Excellence, Profitable Growth and Exceeding Expectations – as the company's DNA that reflect what we stand for as a business.

2013

Rebrand to CMS Distribution

Acquisition of Interactive Ideas

2015

Sales of £178M+

Opening of new flagship office in London

2016

Sales of £324M+

Opening of new office in Harrogate

Acquisition of Widget (UK)

Acquisition of Now Mobile (Netherlands)

2017

320 Employees and Sales of £446M+

Opening of new office in Amsterdam

Acquisition of TNS Connect Distribution, opening of new office Dublin & Shenzhen, expand business into JAPAC Market

Winner of: Company of the Year and Channel Programme of the Year at the Tech Excellence Awards, Consumer Electronics Distributor of the Year at the PCR Awards.

Implementation of SAP SuccessFactors to improve our Human Experience Management.

2018

Sales of £433M+

Acquisition of SEG (UK)

Opening USA Business Division

Renewal of Kiltimagh Office

Winner of: Consumer Electronics Distributor of the Year at the PCR Awards, Company of the Year at the Tech Excellence Awards, Consumer Tech Distributor of the Year at the EMEA Channel Academy Awards

2019

480 Employees and Sales of £485M+

Acquisition of Avesta (France)

Opening of new logistics centre in Castleford

Winner of: Deloitte Best Managed Companies - Gold standard, Distributor of the Year at the Tech Excellence Awards, Storage Distributor of the Year at the CRN Channel Awards, Consumer Electronics Distributor of the Year at the PCR Awards

2020

Sales of £485M+

Winner of: Hall of Fame & Storage Distributor of the Year at the Storage Awards

2021

500+ Employees and Sales of £572M+

Acquisition of sysob (Germany) and VLC (USA)

Re-opening of our Kiltimagh warehouse

Winner of: Consumer Electronics Distributor of the Year at the PCR Awards

2022

530+ Employees

Rebranded CMS Distribution & re-launched our corporate website

Launched new e-commerce platform, the CMS Store

Winner of: Storage Distributor of the Year at the CRN Awards, Deloitte Best Managed Companies - Gold standard, Hardware Distributor of the Year at the PCR Awards