Sirius Adds Symatrix to the Mix

Symatrix, which has offices in Seattle; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Salt Lake City; and Honolulu, had revenue of about $33 million last year, said Harvey Najim, president and CEO of Sirius.

Najim said that Sirius,which company executives claim is the largest IBM midrange solution provider in the United States,and Symatrix are profitable organizations.

Symatrix is the third recent acquisition for Sirius. The company purchased a Lancaster, Pa.-based J.D. Edwards specialist in April 1998, and an Irvine, Calif.-based solution provider in February 2000. Last November, Sirius sold its J.D. Edwards practice to Atlanta-based CD Group, Najim said.

Sirius will continue to grow through acquisitions, he said, adding that he expects to announce another acquisition after the new year. Sirius last week also acquired Strategic Systems, a Houston-based IBM solution provider.

Najim said his company is following a "platform within geography" strategy regarding acquisitions. He said he wishes to emulate IBM's plan, which is to have the ability to sell a full range of Big Blue's servers and storage products throughout the entire country. However, Sirius has been weak in the Northwest, which is the reason why it acquired Symatrix, he said.

Sirius' revenue is running about 8 percent to 9 percent higher than last year, Najim said. The company's growth strategies include increasing sales to existing accounts, increasing its participation in the SMB space, hiring more experienced sellers of solutions, and acquiring companies that fill in geographic holes, he said.

Bill Arntz, former president of Symatrix and now vice president of business development at Sirius, said Symatrix was not looking to be acquired. However, because the two firms are both IBM solution providers, they have known each other for years, even sharing the stage for IBM leadership awards. "[Sirius had a few more than we did," he quipped.

Symatrix executives were invited to look at Sirius' expansion plans and concluded that Symatrix was a good fit to fill the hole in Sirius' geographic coverage, Arntz said.

"It was a good surprise [to see just how well-prepared they were for integrating our firm into theirs," he said.

For solution providers looking to be acquired, Arntz said that the key is strong customer relationships. "[Even if revenue is not enough to cover the overhead but relationships are strong, that's paramount," Arntz said. "Strong customer relationships have a value of their own."