In what may be a sign of the times, Internap Network Services has acquired hosting provider Voxel Holdings in a deal that will boost the company’s cloud-computing offerings and expand its base of small business customers. Internap has become one of the latest companies to expand cloud services via an acquisition.
The all-cash deal, which closed Dec. 30, amounts to some $30 million, with an additional $5 million in sweeteners tied to the delivery of specific objectives during the next two years. Voxel, which is based in New York, offers hosting services built on a proprietary automation platform called VoxSTRUCTURE. The acquisition will allow Internap to offer on-demand physical and virtual cloud servers, as well as a global content delivery network (CDN), and a full suite of managed services-all based on Voxel’s technologies. Voxel currently claims more than 1,000 customers and 50 employees.
“This acquisition of Voxel increases Internap’s market share and growth rate, accelerates our product roadmap and creates an unmatched competitive position as an IT Infrastructure services provider,” said Eric Cooney, president and CEO of Internap. “As IT infrastructure outsourcing advances, enterprises increasingly seek service providers to support myriad applications and workloads throughout their entire IT lifecycle.”
Other hosting and cloud service providers, such as Presidio Networked Solutions, Network Depot and Akami, have recently purchased cloud-focused organizations in hopes of expanding hosting and service offerings in the cloud. Nevertheless, Internap will benefit from the Voxel acquisition, which will expand Internap’s infrastructure–thanks to Voxel success at deploying infrastructure across three continents, leasing space in eight Equinix data centers around the globe.
In its release announcing the deal, Internap mentioned that it would add Voxel locations in Amsterdam and Singapore.”We are excited to be joining Internap, a company that shares our commitment to developing innovative IT infrastructure solutions to drive the next generation of Internet and cloud applications,” said Raul Martynek, president and CEO of Voxel. “The combination of Internap’s broad market presence and robust, high-performance IT infrastructure platform with our expertise in automated hosting and cloud services will deliver a powerful option for a broad range of enterprise customers.”
Internap’s acquisition clearly shows that the path to cloud-services consolidation is sure to continue in 2012.
