Managed Service Provider Week in Review

Wheelings and dealings were the name of the game in the MSP space this week. To say it was a busy news week in the managed services space would be a major understatement – a quick look at the number of acquisition and funding deals that went down shows that the market is booming and companies are gearing up for an explosion this year.

In a deal that has been in the pipeline for a while, NTT Communications finally acquired MSP Virtela Technology Services. The move enables the company, a division of Japan-based NTT, to offer a broader range of services on a global network, including Internet and hybrid MPLS networks that can enable easy deployment of cloud services.

Wireline telecom services provider Otelco scooped up Maine service provider Reliable Networks this week in a deal valued at $500,000 as well as future payment of stock. The company will expand its carrier-grade offerings to support VoIP, database, email and vertical software applications through the deal, as well as expand its market presence. Reliable specializes in cloud hosting and managed services for companies focused on mission-critical applications.

File sharing solution provider Egnyte didn’t acquire a company this week, but the company wheeled and dealed nonetheless. The company has pulled in about $60 million in venture capital over the past few weeks and this week partnered with network attached storage (NAS) provider Synology. The companies are working together to offer a combined file sharing/NAS solution geared toward mid-sized companies.

Also bringing in big bucks was MSP Fusion Telecommunications, which garnered $44 million in a recent financing round. The company used the investment to complete its acquisition of Broadvox LLC’s cloud services business. Fusion is aiming to expand its position in the cloud services arena as well as expand its SMB segment with an emphasis on the legal, hospitality and real estate vertical markets.

Not to be short-changed, IaaS cloud provider Peak brought in $4 million in new funding this week, which will be used to support strategic partnerships as well as better meet the high demand for its cloud computing services. The company had received a $3 million funding round in July as well as a $1.5 million round before that to support business growth and expanded cloud node capabilities.