EarthLink spices up managed security portfolio with Synergy Global asset acquisition

EarthLink (Nasdaq: ELNK) is bolstering its managed services strategy again by reaching an agreement to acquire the IT Solution Center and hosted application provider assets from western New York-based Synergy Global Solutions.

Synergy Global Solutions office

Synergy Global Solutions' Rochester, N.Y. office

When the acquisition is complete, which it expects to happen by the end of the year, these pieces will become part of EarthLink's Business unit and will be sold through its direct and indirect sales channels. Also, Synergy's current president Clark Cook will become EarthLink's new vice president of Solution Center Services, reporting to Brian Fink, EarthLink executive vice president of Managed Services.

One of the key pieces of the deal is Synergy's 24x7x365 IT Solution Center. Comprised of a help desk, network operations center and remote care platform, the center provides SAS-70 certified services, tiered network support and monitoring, remote technical management and support across a wide range of networking and operating system platforms.

Besides applications, EarthLink gains a number of new resale relationships and upsell opportunities for its existing business customer base. Upon completion, the service provider will have another 120 value added resellers (VARs) that sell the Solution Center and hosted application services. In addition, EarthLink will extend the IT Solution Center services to its base of over 100,000 business customers and through its existing sales channels.

This is the latest in a series of acquisitions it has made to enhance its managed service portfolio. Three other notable acquisitions EarthLink has made in this area include: xDefenders, a managed IT security company; Business Vitals, a national managed IT, security and professional service provider; and Logical Solutions.net, an enterprise data-center solutions provider.

For more:
- see the release

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