Brooks Robinson, president of Cbeyond Cloud Services
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Cbeyond (www.cbeyond.com) may not be the first company that comes to mind when the subject of cloud hosting comes up, but the company is making a move to position itself as a player in that market with its recent acquisition of hosting and cloud provider MaximumASP (www.maximumasp.com) and cloud-based telephony firm Aretta Communications (www.aretta.com).
In an acquisition worth $40 million, IT services provider Cbeyond purchased the two companies, adding to its already extensive portfolio of telecommunications and IT services.
The company currently provides 30 applications to more than 53,000 small businesses throughout the United States, many of those products the company considers “cloud” products. But now it is making the move specifically into the cloud infrastructure space.
“We provided a number of services we call cloud. We have a web hosting product, we also have hosted Microsoft Exchange,” says Brooks Robinson, president of Cbeyond Cloud Services. “There’s a number of other applications that would be termed cloud services as well. We have a virtual receptionist product, our fax to email product is in the cloud. But in terms of cloud servers specifically, this is a new product area for us.”
MaximumASP and Aretta help strengthen Cbeyond’s cloud-computing focus, thrusting the company further into the cloud market. Cbeyond is now offering MaximumASP’s managed virtual servers and dedicated servers, as well as Aretta Communications’ private branch exchange and session Internet Protocol trunking.
Additionally, the acquisition provides Cbeyond with a newly built 33,000 square-foot data center.
Other benefits include an expanded product portfolio into IT services designed for small businesses, a broader geographic opportunity outside Cbeyond’s existing 14-city footprint, new web distribution and private label reseller channels, and many cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.
“Our goal is to continue expanding in small markets,” says Robinson. “Both of the acquired companies expand our product portfolio: MaximumASP on the cloud server, virtual server, dedicated server, cloud sites area, and Aretta Communications expands our portfolio to include cloud PBXs. You can see how the two complement each other as well, as both of them currently target small and medium businesses. It’s a natural fit for our portfolio.”
Cbeyond has grown significantly during the past few years, recently reaching number 476 on Deloitte’s ranking of 500 of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America.
The company’s revenue for the third quarter of 2010 has grown by 7.1 percent to $113.5 million when compared to the third quarter of 2009.
Meanwhile, MaximumASP and Aretta are expected to fetch $12 million in aggregate fiscal 2010 revenue.
Both Maximum and Aretta will operate within the cloud services division under the Cbeyond brand.
With their favorable position in the cloud hosting market, the two companies should help Cbeyond grow out its cloud business and draw more attention to its other IT and communications services.
“Our goal is to take the platforms and the teams and grow them as a real growth engine for the overall Cbeyond business,” says Robinson.
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