Forsythe Acquires Piedmont, Aims For Bigger Southeast U.S. Presence

Forsythe, based here, has an annual revenue of nearly $700 million, with 35 offices nationwide, and was looking to expand its business in the Southeastern United States, company officials said.

Forsythe acquired Piedmont because of its location and solution focus, said Eva Losacco, president and CEO of Forsythe. The company previously had small offices in Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.

"We've been looking at expanding in the Southeast for several years," Losacco said. "We compete with Piedmont in that area, and we admire them."

Piedmont, formed about 16 years ago, is Sun Microsystems' oldest U.S. solution provider, said Mitch Lemons, president of Piedmont.

Piedmont has about 16 people, and focuses its business on backup and recovery, storage networking, SANs and services, said Lemons. He said the company was expecting revenue of about $16 million this year, which would be flat with that of last year. It is a profitable organization, he said.

Both Losacco and Lemons said there are no plans to lay off employees as a result of the acquisition.

Neither official was clear as to which organization first proposed the acquisition. The management teams of both companies have known each other for a couple of years. Losacco said the two had talked about an acquisition for some time, but the actual decision was made about 60 days ago.

While Sun has, as part of its solution provider contracts, provisions for ending the relationship if one is acquired, Losacco said she does not expect any problems as both solution providers are Sun-authorized. "We've had positive feedback from Sun and our distributor, GE Access," she said.

Piedmont is the third solution provider to be acquired this month. Sirius Computer Solutions, San Antonio, this month acquired Symatrix Technology, a $33 million revenue solution provider in Beaverton, Ore., and Houston-based Strategic Systems.

This is Forsythe's second acquisition this year. In February, the solution provider beefed up its security offerings by acquiring the security integration and consulting services and contracts of Telenisus.

Losacco said Forsythe is currently in the middle of its strategic planning, and expects to fill out its presence in certain vertical markets or with enhanced services with further acquisitions in the future.

"We want to grow aggressively," she said. "We are looking for acquisitions instead of organic growth because we are successful, with strong finances and no debt. Investing in developing new services or other expertise can be very expensive."