THE FIRST "virtual" tenant has taken up space at an innovation centre based in Newport on the Isle of Wight.

Marc Phillips Sales Solutions is a brand new venture which offers sales and marketing services to media and news media firms.

The new business is based at the Innovation Centre on St Cross Business Park in Newport which is operated by the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership.

The company is the first to take advantage of the centre's new "virtual office" facility which provides facilities that growing businesses may need on flexible, cost-effective terms.

The Virtual Office has been developed by the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership to support new, expanding businesses and create additional job opportunities for local people.

Mike King, enterprise and investment director for the IWEP, said: "The development of the virtual office responds to the needs of new businesses. The Innovation Centre provides a nurturing environment for young, innovative businesses - the virtual office allows us to extend this support and open up the facilities to other young businesses.

"The virtual office scheme has been designed to be extremely flexible, so that clients can tailor services to their exact requirements. For instance, some 'virtual tenants' may purely require a telephone answering service, while others will want to make use of meeting rooms. We can accommodate any combination of requirements with the flexibility to change them at any time."

Marc Phillips of Sales Solutions said: "I spend most of my time working at client's own premises or out on the road, so I don't need a full-time, permanent office. The Innovation Centre provides the perfect solution."

For details about the Innovation Centre, call 01983 550300.