Monday Morning Impact – August 15

ScanSource to Acquire Intelisys

ScanSource, Inc., a Greenville, South Carolina-based value added distributor has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Intelisys Communications, Inc., a master agent/technology services distributor of business telecommunications and cloud services that claims gross commissions of $120 million for 2015.

Intelisys, based in Petaluma, California, provides agents and value-added resellers (VARs) with a portfolio of services, support and enablement tools to sell cloud and connectivity services.

Under the agreement, the all-cash transaction includes an initial purchase price of approximately $83.6 million, plus earn-out payments based on earnings before interest expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) over the next four years. Intelisys has demonstrated double-digit growth of net revenues and EBITDA, which is projected to continue during the four-year earn-out period. For the first full year after closing, Intelisys’ net revenues, which reflect gross commissions less payments to sub-agents, are estimated to total over $34 million with a 45% to 50% estimated EBITDA margin.

“We are entering a high-growth, recurring revenue business that is complementary to our current business and represents a compelling opportunity for our VARs,” said Mike Baur, CEO, ScanSource, Inc. “Acquiring Intelisys and their immense expertise and talent will be instrumental in helping our combined sales and supplier channels build on that success.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the quarter ending September 30, 2016, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals.

Channel Impact^®
The move enables ScanSource to enter the telecom and cloud services market. Approximately 10% of this market is currently served by the indirect channel, according to the company’s estimates. ScanSource expects this percentage to grow significantly over time.

BCM One Acquires Cloud Computing Company

BCM One, Inc., a New York City-based solutions provider, announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets of CloudStrategies Group, Inc., a Microsoft Gold Partner and cloud computing professional services company.

The move provides BCM One with a deeper bench to support management of customer deployments across the entire Microsoft suite of cloud services including Office 365, Skype for Business and Azure.

CloudStrategies was founded in 2009 and was “born in the cloud” as one of the first Microsoft computing resellers in the industry. The company deployed Microsoft cloud services to over 500 customers nationwide, across various key verticals, and supported the migration of more than 100,000 users. Their delivery of services ranged from solution design to migration and also included ongoing training and client support.

BCM One became a Microsoft partner nearly two years ago and is certified to host Microsoft Customer Immersion Experience sessions (CIEs).

Channel Impact^®
The transaction further positions BCM One as a leading Microsoft cloud provider.

Kaspersky Lab Launches Bug Bounty Program with HackerOne

Kaspersky Lab has rolled out a new malware bounty program, in conjunction with HackerOne, a bug bounty platform provider.

During this six-month initial phase, Kaspersky Lab will offer a total of $50,000 in bounty rewards to security researchers who find issues with the company’s enterprise and consumer product lines. After the preliminary phase is complete, the company will evaluate the results to determine what additional products and rewards should be included in the second phase of its bounty program.

“Our bug bounty program will help amplify the current internal and external mitigation measures we use to continuously improve the resiliency of our products,” said Nikita Shvetsov, chief technology officer, Kaspersky Lab. “We think it’s time for all security companies, large and small, to work more closely with external security researchers by embracing bug bounty programs as an effective and necessary tool to help keep their products secure and their customers protected.”

Channel Impact^®
With this program, Kaspersky Lab will likely bolster its mitigation strategy for addressing inherent software vulnerabilities, and also strengthen its relationships with external security researchers.