Zones Buys Nfrastructure, Boosting Solutions And Services Capabilities

Zones, Inc. is opening its wallet and adding to its infrastructure.

The Auburn, Washington-based solution provider said today it is buying managed services provider nfrastructure of Clifton Park, New York for an undisclosed sum.

"If you look at Zones as having a quiver, they now picked up a couple of extra arrows that really create extra value, make relationships stickier, increase gross margin," said Martin Wolf, president of Martinwolf M&A Advisors, of Walnut Creek, California, who advised Zones on the deal.

"It’s a large deal. It’s a very well respected company, nfrastructure, and they're very complementary and extendable to Zones. The reason I think it’s such an interesting combination is that Zones has enterprise account relationships. They're very good at that. By acquiring this capability, they'll be able to take that capability to their existing customer set," Wolf said.

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Dan Pickett, CEO of nfrastructure said in a statement that his company is "uniquely positioned" to support customers by helping them manage their IT infrastructures as the number of "networked nodes and devices" continues to increase.

[Related: IoT Channel Chronicles: How Zones Built A Successful Team To Keep Ahead Of The Internet of Things Curve]

Pickett continued: "Combining nfrastructure's services with Zones' global account management, product offerings and technology capabilities to provide a total solution greatly benefits nfrastructure's customers, employees and partners. We are excited to join Zones and continue our pace of innovation."

nfrastructure, No. 199 on the CRN SP500 list, will be bringing many complementary services that will build on Zones' existing portfolio and expand its current customer base according to an email from Zones to CRN.

Zones is looking to utilize nfrastructure's strong technical and managed services background, to assist large-enterprise clients, focusing specifically on those with multi-location, branch and campus infrastructures

"Acquiring nfrastructure accelerates Zones’ evolution as a services-led solutions provider with deep customer relationships and global capabilities," Firoz Lalji, chairman, president and CEO of Zones, No. 30 on the CRN SP500 list, said in a statement. He added that the deal would position both companies to capitalize on the growth of the market.

Following the acquisition, which closed today, nfrastructure is now a wholly-owned subsidy of Zones, with all 300 nfrastructure employees included as part of the deal.

Deloitte Corporate Finance acted as advisor to nfrastructure during this transaction. Zones was represented by Martinwolf and Wells Fargo Capital Finance provided the financing.

In an interview with CRN earlier this year, Stephen Lurie, vice president of IoT Solutions for Zones said that the company wants to get into the IoT game early and sees IoT as an opportunity for growth.

By building an IoT team with a focus on operational technology [HVAC, lighting systems, etc.] as well as traditional technology, Lurie said Zones has started to bridge the gap between the two, and begun to capitalize on the potential that IoT has for solution providers.

Earlier this month, nfrastructure was named a CRN 2016 Triple Crown Award winner, and has been listed on CRN’s Fast Growth 150 and Tech Elite 250 lists.