M&A in the data center space as Colologix acquires New Jersey based Net Access. Net Access, LLC is a "colocation and workspace recovery provider with over 200K gross square footage across three enterprise-grade facilities in Northern New Jersey." NJ is the new target for Greater NYC. Net Access has 700 customers! Now cologix will have 24 data centers in 9 markets.
The data center space is hot right now. Deals are happening frequently including the WIND-Tierpoint deal yesterday and the Digital Realty-TELX deal. Rumor has it that Terremark is up for sale.
8x8 landed 2 big customers: Regus and NetSuite. Regus, the global, flexible workplace provider, will deploy 8x8's cloud communications platform to 140 sites at first. "Regus was unable to offer a business phone service with key features such as mobility, multi-channel communications and presence-enabled directories. By selecting 8x8, Regus has ensured its customers have access to the most advanced enterprise communications tools to increase their business flexibility and productivity." At least Regus sees the flexibility benefit of Cloud Comm. Too often, our industry forgets that cloud is about change.
"Following an extensive multi-vendor, technical review and proof of concept (POC) process, NetSuite selected 8x8 as its new cloud communications solutions provider and 8x8's flagship Virtual Office business telephony solution to address its evolving global communications requirements. With more than 4,500 employees worldwide, 8x8 worked with NetSuite to onboard the first 2,400 employees by the end of August across nine locations - delivering a record-breaking six-week deployment in the final seven sites. The initial deployment spans three countries, including large offices in the Philippines. The remaining offices are expected to be fully deployed by 2016." [source]
These are big wins that will raise both 8x8's ARPU and seat count (and revenue). Who says desk phones are disappearing?
Edgewater Networks, Metaswitch and Jon Arnold did a study of 1200+ SMBs and VoIP in North America. You can get a copy of the analysis here.
"SMBs remain entrenched in a legacy environment, with 70 to 80% of businesses currently using TDM." So VoIP really has only penetrated about 25% -- sad really but there are factors, like how to cost effectively deliver under 8 SIP trunks with quality of service. The Duopoly serve 75% of the SMB market. Lack of features is biggest reason to move to cloud comm (see Regus).
Equinox Info Systems became employee owned after 29 years, David West told me at the show today. Equinox re-signed a number of bigger customers, including Fairpoint. Equinox offers call analytics, FCC reporting, VoIP fraud monitoring and help with robocalls and toll fraud.
UNITEL offers many lines of insurance and risk management for service providers. It now offers OSHA training on-demand as well as other HR compliance webinars. UNITEL is pushing further into its customers with HR specialists that know specific state and federal laws. At some point, you have to go deeper into your clients instead of looking for more and more clients.
