Iron Mountain, through the acquisition of three regional providers, is expanding its tape rotation and storage business, as well as other related services including document scanning and media destruction.

Iron Mountain, the leading provider of services for rotating, picking up and storing computer tapes, this week said it acquired three smaller firms in a move to expand its business and cut costs by reducing overlapping operations.

Iron Mountain is always looking at different ways of expanding its footprint, with acquisitions being one of them, said Todd Koopersmith, vice president of corporate and business development for the Boston-based company.

[Related: Autonomy Snapping Up Iron Mountain Digital Services]

"All three of these guys are notable regional tape rotation providers," Koopersmith said. "All three have strong local reputations and are strong in the midmarket. They are good, strong service providers with good customer bases."

Included in the acquisitions is IG2 Data Security, a Schaumburg, Ill.-based provider of data and record storage, document scanning, shredding services and litigation services; DATAPROS Storage and Staffing, a Phoenix-based provider of media and records storage, media destruction services, and document scanning services; and Data Backup, a Sarasota, Fla.-based provider of tape rotation and storage services.

Iron Market is already doing business in the three markets covered by the acquisitions, Koopersmith said. For Iron Mountain, the opportunity lies in expanding its business in those markets while eliminating overlapping personnel and delivery route costs, along with picking up new routes to help expand the customer base, he said.

"While there are sure to be people who will come work with us [from the three companies], there will be some economic advantages," he said. "There will be some folks who won't come over. But, we can eliminate some routes and even add some new routes."

Iron Mountain's primary business is its media rotation services, a business Koopersmith said is growing.

Iron Mountain also has a small business reselling the LiveVault and Connected online storage services from HP's Autonomy business. Iron Mountain last year sold the bulk of those services to Autonomy shortly before HP acquired Autonomy.

Iron Mountain also provides the hosted facility on which the Autonomy services are based, Koopersmith said.

Iron Mountain declined to discuss either the purchase price for the three companies or their annual revenue.

PUBLISHED DEC. 11, 2012