Logically buys MSSP company, sets sights on $100M
Logically's purchase of MSSP company Cerdant creates a security cross-selling opportunity, according to Logically CEO; other IT channel news.
Logically, an MSP based in Portland, Maine, has continued its cybersecurity push with the acquisition of Cerdant, a managed security services provider.
Cerdant, based in Dublin, Ohio, has more than 450 customers across the U.S. based in vertical markets such as retail, hospitality, education, government, healthcare and financial services. The MSSP company's strategic alliances include firewall and cybersecurity vendors SonicWall and Fortinet.
The Cerdant acquisition follows the launch of Logically's Security Business Unit earlier this month. Logically's core security offering, SecureCare, bundles breach detection, two-factor authentication, endpoint detection and response, security awareness training, and security information and event management, among other components. Customers can also purchase add-on security, compliance and audit products, said Logically CEO Mike Cowles.
Logically has grown cybersecurity services to a third of its revenue.
"Security has been a decent part of our business as an MSP," Cowles noted. "Many MSPs … have drifted toward having to, or wanting to, provide security offerings, in addition to traditional MSP services. We continue to make it a focus."
Kaseya's MSP Benchmark Survey, published this week, underscores the increased demand for security services. Sixty-three percent of MSPs said clients asked them for cybersecurity advice in 2020, an 8% increase compared with Kaseya's 2019 MSP survey.
Cross-sell opportunities
Over time, Logically will look to cross-sell SecureCare offerings and Cerdant's security services. For example, Cerdant has more experience than Logically in managed firewall implementations. Such firewall services "could be a key element to introduce into our customers, including those with SecureCare," Cowles said.
Mike Cowles
Whether and how the MSSP company will integrate structurally with Logically and its Security Business Unit has yet to be determined. That decision will be made toward the end of 2021, with any restructuring rolling out in the first quarter of 2022, Cowles said.
The Cerdant deal marks Logically's fourth acquisition in as many months. During that span, Logically also purchased Network Support Co., NG2 and Personal Computer Resources. Cowles said he expects Logically to make one or two more transactions by the end of the year.
Logically's "moderately aggressive" acquisition strategy, coupled with organic growth, has the company on track to surpass the $100 million revenue mark sooner than expected, Cowles noted. The original plan was to eclipse that figure by 2024, but the company now anticipates it will do so by 2022.
Tercera pursues more cloud consulting deals
Tercera, an investment and advisory company specializing in cloud professional services, is evaluating opportunities among Twilio and Snowflake partners.
Chris Barbin
The company, which launched in January 2021, completed its first deal in February, providing $9 million in financing to BeyondID, an MSP and systems integrator based in San Francisco. BeyondID, which specializes in identify and access management and zero-trust security, partners with Okta at the Platinum Services level.
Tercera Founder and CEO Chris Barbin said the company's second deal is about 30 days away and will involve a Twilio partner. Other ISV ecosystems of interest include Snowflake and HashiCorp, he noted. More broadly, Tercera is also looking at e-commerce and DevOps.
Channel program updates and launches
- Rodney Clark will replace Gavriella Schuster as corporate vice president of global channel sales and channel chief at Microsoft. Clark has been with Microsoft for 23 years, most recently in the role of vice president of IoT and mixed reality sales. In that capacity, he worked with a partner ecosystem that included distributor Avnet, which in 2018 launched its Azure-based IoTConnect platform. Clark also has connections to the consulting sector. In 2020, he joined the board of directors of West Monroe Partners, a business and technology consulting firm based in Chicago. Schuster, meanwhile, will transition her responsibilities to Clark and plans to focus on "inclusion and gender equity in the tech industry" in a yet-to-be determined capacity at Microsoft, according to a LinkedIn post. Schuster was Microsoft's channel chief for seven years.
- Zadara, an edge cloud services company based in Irvine, Calif., launched a channel initiative for hosting providers, MSPs, VARs and solution providers. The zPartner Program has three tiers -- zSilver, zGold and zPlatinum -- and provides sales and technical support, training and dedicated partner management teams. Other benefits include co-op marketing investment funds, partner discounts and a partner portal. The zPartner Program revamps an earlier Zadara channel program launched in 2019. A spokesperson for Zadara said the company recently doubled the size of its channel team.
- Fortanix Inc., a multi-cloud security company based in Mountain View, Calif., unveiled a partner program for technology resellers. Scott Hoard has joined the company as area vice president of Americas channels and will head the Fortanix Partners First program. Hoard joined Fortanix from Corelight, where he was head of global channels and alliances. The program, which revolves around the company's Fortanix Data Security Manager suite, includes sales and technical training and deal registration.
- Datto, a data protection and MSP software company based in Norwalk, Conn., partnered with Bob Coppedge, CEO of Simplex-IT, an MSP based in Stow, Ohio, to provide co-managed IT services Datto's MSP partners will gain access to education content for delivering co-managed services, via live online training, webinars, blog posts, short videos and events. Coppedge will also work with Datto to build a toolkit for approaching co-managed IT opportunities.
Other news
- Accenture agreed to acquire Cygni, a cloud-native development firm based in Sweden. The deal is the fourth cloud transaction for Accenture in the first quarter of 2021. Cygni has about 190 developers and provides a range of IT consulting and implementation services, according to Accenture. In 2020, Accenture kicked off a $3 billion investment plan with the launch of the Accenture Cloud First group.
- In other Accenture news, the company has developed a cloud-based Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan application and forgiveness offering for Regions Bank. Accenture said it used Salesforce Experience Cloud for application intake, nCino Bank Operating System for middle-office processing and Salesforce Service Cloud for case management.
- Advanced, an Atlanta-based services provider that focuses on application modernization, said it has reached AWS Mainframe Migration Competency status. Partners focused on mainframe modernization strategy indicate customers have a greater urgency to move away from legacy systems.
- Otava, a cloud solutions provider based in Ann Arbor, Mich., said it attained Gold status in Veeam's Cloud & Service Provider program.
- Pax8, a cloud distributor based in Denver, partnered with LogMeIn. Under the arrangement, Pax8 will provide LogMeIn's LastPass password management and single sign-on offering to MSPs.
- Bamboo Systems, an Arm-based server vendor located Cambridge, U.K., entered a distributor pact with Zen Exim, a value-added distributor in India. The company last month expanded its reach in the U.K. and Ireland through a partnership with distributor Spinnaker.
- CloudBlue, a cloud ecosystem technology company based in Irvine, Calif., said it completed the acquisition and integration of Harmony Business Systems, which provides professional services automation (PSA) software. Harmony Business Systems will operate as a CloudBlue company. HarmonyPSA incorporates CRM, ticketing and lead generation, among other functions.
- MSP software vendor NinjaRMM enhanced its remote monitoring and management platform. NinjaRMM 5.1 features an upgraded Autotask PSA integration and a mobile version of the software for iPads.
- Tricentis, a Mountain View, Calif., provider of a testing platform for cloud and enterprise applications, partnered with Carahsoft Technology Corp. Carahsoft includes Tricentis' automated software testing offerings on its NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement V contract and its Army Information Technology Enterprise Solutions -- Software 2 contract.
- Konftel, a collaboration manufacturer based in Sweden, said resellers can expect to see customers prioritize video meeting room technologies in the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. More than half of businesses are "planning to accelerate IT budgets this year," according to the company. Konftel conducts all its sales through the channel.
- Employees of C-cure, a Danish cybersecurity advisory firm, will join Nixu, a cybersecurity services company based in Finland. Nixu has not acquired any other assets of C-cure.
- OSF Digital, a digital transformation specialist and Salesforce partner based in Quebec City, named David Northington as chairman of its board of directors. He previously held management positions at Accenture, Cloud Sherpas and Capgemini North America.
- Pythian Services Inc., a data, analytics and cloud services company, appointed Paul Lewis as CTO. Lewis joins Pythian from Hitachi Vantara, where he was global CTO.
- Datadobi, an unstructured data management software vendor, appointed Paul Repice as vice president of sales for the Americas. He will be responsible for the company's sales strategies, which include channel sales.
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