Stirring the soup of service providers

One indication that a technology trend is gaining mainstream attention is when it becomes a target for mergers and acquisitions. Recent acquisitions in the managed-services and software-as-a-service segments of the IT industry are not only clear signs that these new methods of dealing with age-old technology challenges are winning broad-based acceptance, but also that they are fundamentally changing the way other industries do business.

In July, storage-product vendor Iomega announced plans to acquire CSCI, a San Diego-based managed-services provider (MSP). In the company's announcement, CEO Jonathan Huberman said, "Iomega is taking the first step toward becoming a managed-services company."

Iomega wasn't the first company to make the move from a productcentric to a services-driven orientation. Over the past few years, other prominent technology companies, including Sun and Cisco, have acquired MSPs with mixed results.

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One indication that a technology trend is gaining mainstream attention is when it becomes a target for mergers and acquisitions. Recent acquisitions in the managed-services and software-as-a-service segments of the IT industry are not only clear signs that these new methods of dealing with age-old technology challenges are winning broad-based acceptance, but also that they are fundamentally changing the way other industries do business.

In July, storage-product vendor Iomega announced plans to acquire CSCI, a San Diego-based managed-services provider (MSP). In the company's announcement, CEO Jonathan Huberman said, "Iomega is taking the first step toward becoming a managed-services company."

Iomega wasn't the first company to make the move from a productcentric to a services-driven orientation. Over the past few years, other prominent technology companies, including Sun and Cisco, have acquired MSPs with mixed results.