Cogeco Data Services has expanded its network and voice services to large and mid-sized organizations by buying a managed services infrastructure company.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Cogeco Cable Inc. [TSX: CCA], CDS said Wednesday that it has completed its acquisition of Toronto-based Quiettouch Inc. for an undisclosed fee.
“It’s really a way to bring more value to our customer base,” CDS president Tony Ciciretto said in an interview, “because now we have a much richer product portfolio to offer them.”
He wouldn’t say how much Cogeco paid. The deal was announced late last month but was only finalized this week.
Quiettouch made the Branham Group Inc.’s annual top 300 ICT companies in 2007 with annual revenue of $32 million and 77 employees selling managed recovery, converged network, managed security and virtualized infrastructure services.
However, Ciciretto said Quiettouch now has 35 staffers, who will join CDS staff of 150. He wouldn’t disclose its most recent annual revenue. Nor would he say how many customers Quiettouch adds to CDS, other than to say the majority of them are large and medium-sized Canadian companies, many in resources and financial services.
But he did say the deal adds about 30 per cent more data centre capacity to CDS thanks to Quiettouch’s data centres in Toronto and Vancouver.
The acquisition “gets us into complete outsourcing of an IT environment,” Ciciretto said in an interview.
“It really does fit in with where we want to take the company,” he said. CDS has been offering storage, managed backup and co-location services. “This expands our portfolio. It really provides more of a managed infrastructure and managed services.”
Quiettouch, which began in 1983, was until the acquisition headed by founder and CEO Dave Templeton, COO Allan Raeside and CTO Vladimir Moshkovsky.
Ciciretto said he is working with the executives on integrating the new company. “They’re helping us with the transition plan and are key to it. We envisage them being with us for some time.”
He wouldn’t say what title Templeton will have other than that “he will be a key member of our group.”
“We’re looking to utilize his skills and the intellectual property that he has, having guided that organization.”
Ciciretto said the Quiettouch name will eventually disappear.
“The services we offer are very complimentary,” he said.
As for more the possibility of buying more managed service providers, Ciciretto said “we always look for opportunities in the market and will continue to do so.”