TIG Acquires Two Fellow VARs To Expand Customer Reach

TIG in February acquired Integrity Networking Systems, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based systems integrator, and followed up last month with the acquisition of WAVEnet Technologies, a Pensacola, Fla.-based solution provider with three offices in Florida and Alabama.

When solution providers, many or most of which came from a hardware focus, grow or merge or do acquisitions, they leave space in the market for companies to grow in new areas such as cloud computing, said Bruce Geier, president and CEO of San Diego-based TIG.

"Recessions are always times for consolidation, a shrinking period for the number of businesses," Geier said. "And as they shrink, that means opportunities for new guys to come in."

For TIG, the opportunities in the two acquisitions come from the opportunity to expand its geographic footprint, bring new services to an established customer base, and expand its government business.

Integrity was once a major competitor with TIG in the Albuquerque area, and at its peak had revenue of about $50 million per year before it hit hard times in the IT market and a cash crunch, Geier said.

However, he said Alburquerque is a big contract town because of all the government institutions in the area, and Integrity had a lot of contracts with not only the Federal government but also with local governments and universities, Geier said.

"That was a big plus for us," he said. "For instance, prior to the acquisition, we already has business with Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory. But with the acquisition, we now get the Sandia HP contract."

Integrity had been shrinking in size for some time, Geier said. "But now their owner Glen Perkle works for us, and all their people came on-board," he said. "So this is good for them. They're happy. And we're happy."

The acquisition of WAVEnet, another cash-strained solution provider whose business had been falling over time, brings TIG a solid Cisco UCS and Tandberg video customer base in the Pensacola and Ft. Walton, Fla. and Mobile, Ala. markets, Geier said.

As a result, TIG now has a new customer base into which it can take a variety of new products and services. "We can go deeper and wider into those accounts than WAVEnet could," he said. "We add a professional sales presence there. Prior to the acquisition, their sales were led by engineers."

WAVEnet had an annual revenue of about $10 million.

Geier declined to discuss the purchase price of either acquisition.