Mirror Mirror on the wall, how was 2007 after all?
The year 2007 was an year of mergers and acquisitions. I have listed out some top mergers and acquisitions across the world in the IT industry.
1. Acer/Gateway — Spanning the globe
Specialties: PCs, servers, monitors.
Reason for merger: Extend U.S. reach, solidify market share.
Cost: $710 million.
Reason the channel should care: Gateway’s product line could see greater play in the channel, where Acer has been active.
2. Arrow/KeyLink — Enterprise expansion
Specialties: Electronics and computer products distribution.
Reason for merger: Expansion into enterprise computing solutions.
Cost: $485 million.
Reason the channel should care: Deal makes Arrow top distributor of IBM, HP enterprise products.
3. Avaya/Silver Lake/TPG Capital — Private communications
Specialties: IP telephony.
Reason for merger: Equity infusion takes company private.
Cost: $8.2 billion.
Reason the channel should care: Avaya ranks among the key players in the burgeoning unified communications space.
4. Avnet/Access Distribution — Global outreach
Specialties: Electronics and computer products distribution.
Reason for merger: Boosts scale of enterprise computing business.
Cost: $410.3 million.
Reason the channel should care: Deal broadens Avnet’s portfolio to include Sun Microsystems Inc., Avaya and F5 Networks, among others.
5. Cisco/WebEx — Channel collaboration
Specialties: Networking, collaboration.
Reason for merger: Bolsters Cisco in unified communication market.
Cost: $3.2 billion.
Reason the channel should care: Cisco is developing a WebEx channel program.
6. CSC/Covansys — Heading east
Specialties: IT services.
Reason for merger: Drive global growth strategy.
Cost: $1.3 billion.
Reason the channel should care: The deal raises CSC’s offshore profile, which could improve its competitive stance.
7. Dell/SilverBack — Services foray
Specialties: Remote monitoring/management.
Reason for merger: Expansion into managed services.
Cost: Not disclosed.
Reason the channel should care: Dell’s arrival in managed services comes as many resellers hope to move in that direction.
8. Dell/EqualLogic* — SAN channel marketing
Specialties: Storage area networks (SANs).
Reason for merger: Tap iSCSI SAN market.
Cost: $1.4 billion.
Reason the channel should care: The deal puts Dell in the middle of the SMB storage space, a sweet spot for resellers.
9. Google/Postini — Just add security
Specialties: Electronic communications security.
Reason for merger: Accelerate SaaS.
Cost: $625 million.
Reason the channel should care: Postini had cultivated a large partner base to sell its security and compliance services.
10. Madison Dearborn/CDW — Private equity meets the channel
Specialties: Technology solutions provider.
Reason for merger: Take company private.
Cost: $7.3 billion.
Reason the channel should care: Huge private equity deal involving a top channel player.
CDW Corp. in October ended
Source: http://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid96_gci1285977,00.html
Information Technology