Level Three To Buy Corporate Software

Level 3 will pony up about $89 million in cash for the company, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary, said Howard Diamond, CEO of Corporate Software.

"Corporate Software is still Corporate Software, I'm still running it, and the management team remains the same," Diamond said in an interview.

Diamond said the combination of Corporate Software and Level 3's existing (i)Structure group is a natural fit. "(i)Structure is an IT outsourcing group and for five years I've been preaching that through industry consolidation and outsourcing, [Corporate Software] would start looking more like an outsourcing organization than a sales organization," he said.

The widespread use of Internet downloads and price pressures have put large-account resellers like Corporate Software and Software Spectrum under the gun in recent years.

In its nearly 20 years of existence, Corporate Software has been public, private and acquired by R.R. Donnelley. A few years ago, Diamond led a management buyout of the company. The company pioneered the resale of volume software licensing and support.