MSP Totality Buys Breakaway Assets, More Deals Ahead

Totality last week acquired assets of ASP Breakaway Solutions, and more such deals are on the way, said Michael Carrier, CTO and acting CEO of the MSP.

Under the deal, Totality picked up Breakaway's e-business-related assets,which gives the MSP 15 new customers,plus the technology behind Breakaway's infrastructure management platform. Breakaway filed for bankruptcy in September.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Totality, based here, had focused on quiet, organic growth until recently, when it acquired eight customers from now-defunct e-services firm Xuma. But that strategy will change starting in 2002, when Totality could disclose deals larger than the Breakaway transaction, Carrier said.

"We are in talks with about a dozen companies that either want us to buy their whole company or some of their assets," he said. "The word is out that we are financially able to do this."

Including the new clients from Breakaway, Totality will end the year with 40 customers, and the company expects to reach profitability by the second quarter of next year, Carrier said.

Totality's acquisition moves reflect the strategy of Chicago-based divine, an "extended enterprise" software and services provider that over the past two years has acquired the assets of about 30 companies, ranging from hosting companies to e-services firms.

While divine's strategy seems to be all over the map, Totality has a more focused approach, said Laurie McCabe, vice president at consulting firm Summit Strategies.

"Divine is trying to play at all ends of the hosting services spectrum, which we all know is hard to do," McCabe said. "Totality's acquisitions so far have been within its core expertise of managed e-business services."

In general, buying the assets of an ailing company isn't a good recipe for success in the service provider marketplace, McCabe noted.

"Other MSPs that I talk to say the technology assets of struggling companies are pretty useless, but acquiring customers is a smart move," she said.