Continuing with its transformation from a consumer focused ISP to an enterprise IT and managed services provider, EarthLink made another acquisition in the managed IT space by buying CenterBeam. Sunnyvale, Ca.-based CenterBeam offers “…remote managed IT services primarily to multi-location mid-sized businesses, and operates a 140-person IT Support Center providing help desk, desktop technical support and application support services.”
“CenterBeam’s advanced set of products, tools and processes will enable us to quickly bring a robust set of remote managed IT Services and collaboration services to market. Additionally, CenterBeam’s IT Support Center will provide expertise, scale and redundancy to our existing EarthLink TechCare remote help desk,” said EarthLink Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rolla P. Huff in a press release.
EarthLink launched its TechCare remote help desk about one year ago. The service transformed EarthLink’s internal IT helpdesk operation into a revenue generating service – a strategy being pursued by other service providers. The goal, at least in theory: turn a cost into a profit center. With CenterBeam, EarthLink can dramatically increase the capabilities of its TechCare unit, while pursuing other managed IT opportunities as well.
EarthLink’s biggest foray into business services came from their acquisition of data CLEC ITC-DeltaCom back in 2010. That $516 million transaction required some serious integration between the two companies, which appears to have become manageable, given the latest acquisition. The CenterBeam transaction is valued at $22 million and is expected to close early in the third quarter of 2013.
