NZ's Certus acquires Aust. IBM services company

Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 09 June 2009 17:13

IT Industry - Development

IBM software services company, New Zealand-based Certus Solutions, has acquired Australian company Eos Solutions to form what it claims is the largest specialist IBM software service and support company across the region.

Certus managing director, Brian Allen, said today the merged company – which will trade as Certus Solutions – will have a combined list of 400 customers, with 100 staff working from offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland and Wellington.

Allen said the strategy behind the Eos acquisition was to expand the solid IBM services foundation provided by Eos with a broader capability offering.

“Certus will invest in both the number of service consultants and the geographical coverage of that personnel. A key initiative will be to provide integrated support and service capabilities around all of IBM’s five major software brands, building on Eos’ existing strong service capability in this area.”

Allen said that as a result of the acquisition Eos’ customers would have greater access to development, support and integration services across the whole IBM software product range,”  and, he added, “for Certus, the Eos customer base will provide a strong growth platform from which to address a much wider market.”

Allen said IBM’s continued investment in its software business was also a contributing factor to the acquisition: “IBM is continuing to invest in its software business and now has the largest business software portfolio spanning every category with the exception of ERP.”

“This business is growing strongly, currently delivering US$20 billion of IBM’s annual revenues and 40 per cent of its profit, heading to 50 per cent next year. IBM is looking to partners such as Certus to play an expanded role in helping customers buy, implement, support and integrate its software, to help achieve its business targets.”
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