Solution Provider Match: Red8 Acquires Data Center Business Of Voyant Strategies

Software-defined data center specialist solution provider Red8 has acquired the integration division of Voyant Strategies.

Red8, Costa Mesa, Calif., Wednesday said the acquisition of Hazlet, N.J.-based Voyant Strategies brings with it a strong data center business as well as the opportunity to expand its business to the Northeast and South Central markets.

The acquisition expands Red8's customer base by about 25 percent, said Richard Heard, Red8 president.

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Heard told CRN that Voyant Strategies has two major business lines. Red8 purchased its data center-focused engineering practice, which includes compute, networking, storage and security deployments as well as managed services. The original owner kept Voyant's email filtering service.

"The email filtering service was not in our wheelhouse, and the original owner wanted to hang on to it," he said.

The acquisition also brings an additional five personnel including Voyant Strategies CTO Glenn Dekhayser, who becomes Red8's practice lead. The company will see its market expand into Connecticut, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Alabama, Heard said.

Red8, which until last year was known as Insight Integrated Systems, a part of Costa Mesa-based Insight Investments, competed with Voyant Strategies in the New York, New Jersey and Texas markets, and so knew each other well, Heard said.

"We've known each other for years," he said. "Our teams would run into each other at various events. Last fall, at the NetApp Insight conference, I had dinner with several people including some from Voyant, and we talked."

Both solution providers have similar technical capabilities, although the acquisition brings Red8 new expertise in WAN deployments, Heard said. The acquisition strengthens Red8's relationships with such vendors as NetApp, VMware, CommVault and Riverbed.

"It's a natural fit given our markets and profiles," he said. "Our goal is to bring Red8's scale to Voyant and Voyant's customer base to Red8."

Heard declined to provide financial information related to the deal.

The acquisition is the first for Red8 since it was renamed from Insight Integrated Systems, although as part of Insight Investments it acquired one company and significant parts of four others, he said.

PUBLISHED AUG. 6, 2015