Logicalis To Acquire IBM zSeries Business Partner

"It rounds out our product line with IBM," said Logicalis CEO Mike Cox.

The pending acquisition of Eisco, a $20 million IBM Business Partner in Lincolnshire, Ill., is the second in less than a year for Logicalis, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Last year Logicalis, among Hewlett-Packard's largest Unix and storage solution providers, acquired IBM Business Partner, Solution Technology, in Indianapolis. The most recent acquisition gives Logicalis the zSeries brand, meaning it can offer the entire IBM eServer line to its customers.

Eisco will become part of the IBM Solutions Technology Group at Logicalis.

Cox said that the acquisition doesn't automatically mean that Logicalis will be able to sell zSeries to its existing IBM accounts, which currently buy their IBM mainframes from IBM direct or other IBM Business Partners.

"We'll have to earn that business," Cox said. But he noted that the acquisition means Logicalis can go after zSeries business in its installed base of HP and Sun customers that also have IBM mainframes.

The acquisition makes Logicalis one of only about 15 zSeries Business Partners in the United States. IBM says about 24 percent of its zSeries business went through the channel last year.

Cox said Logicalis likely won't make any more acquisitions in the IBM space anytime soon. He said Logicalis next wants to acquire another HP solution provider. "We'll just keep looking," Cox said.