Double-Take Software Buys Distributor

Southborough, Mass.-based NSI, which prefers to call itself Double-Take Software after the name of its suite of data protection software for disaster recovery, high availability, and centralized backup, acquired Sunbelt System Software, a Paris-based software distributor.

Sunbelt System Software is Double-Take's largest international distributor, and was acquired to expand the vendor's channel base in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, company executives said.

Terms of the acquisition were not revealed.

Sunbelt System Software is owned by Paris-based Sunbelt International Group, which also owns Sunbelt Software, a Tampa, Fla.-based vendor of security software for messaging, e-mail, spam, content filtering, and antispyware.

Alex Eckelberry, president of Sunbelt Software said that while his company and Sunbelt System Software share the same parent and almost the same name, they are different companies.

The acquisition of Sunbelt System Software by Double-Take will have no impact in the U.S. for Sunbelt Software, said Eckelberry. However, he said, it is good news for the company's channel business in Europe, which had depended in part on Sunbelt System Software as its distributor.

"Now we can go find our own European distribution channel," Eckelberry said. "Sunbelt System Software was very focused on its Double-Take business, and was its exclusive distributor in Europe. This move lets us get closer to our resellers there."