Oct 11, 2013

Tweet Telephone and Data Systems, parent of TDS Telecommunications, announced the acquisition of MSN Communications for $40 million as well as the construction of a Tier 3 data center southeast of the Denver metro area. Telephone and Data Systems has made multiple strategic acquisitions to better position its subsidiary, TDS Hosted and Managed Services, including OneNeck IT corp and VISI. The most recent acquisition and facility announcement boost its footprint and capabilities in Colorado. TDS Hosted and Managed Services expects to break ground on the facility early next year. The data center will have five phases of build out, each of up to 100,000 square feet. The engineering of the facility will mirror TDS HMS data center facilities in the Midwest. The company will deploy ReliaCloud in the data center, providing a local cloud solution along with colocation services. The new facility will complement the new acquisition, with MSN Communications also headquarted in Englewood, Colorado. The solutions provider transaction expands the portfolio of TDS Hosted and Managed Services (TDS HMS), and MSN gains colocation and cloud services to their portfolio. “I believe this is the right time and the right company for MSN Communications to join forces with,” says Doug Schuck, CEO of MSN Communications. “It’s a tremendous moment in our company’s 20 year history. I’m proud of our employees for building a company that is now part of a Fortune 500 organization.” President of TDS HMS Phil Laforg added, “Doug Schuck and the MSN Communications employees have built an IT services powerhouse acting as a trusted advisor to companies throughout the Rocky Mountain Region. By joining forces with TDS HMS, MSN Communications is adding colocation and cloud services to their already robust services catalog.” MSN Communications generated annual revenues of $99 million in 2012. Its roots are as a Value Added Reseller, but it added hosted and managed IT services which complement the TDS HMS portfolio of products. The company consists of 104 employees, and offers a range of products and services around IT infrastructure including planning, engineering, procurement, installation and management. The workforce holds a slew of certifications and the company has top partner status with several of its vendors including Cisco, EMC, VMWare, VCE, Appspace, NetApp and F5. TDS Telecommunications Corp. manages the operations of TDS Hosted & Managed Services, LLC (TDS HMS) which consists of OneNeck IT Services Corp., Vital Support Systems, and VISI Inc, and now MSN Communications. It’s a fast growing business unit, as hosted solutions and cloud have been growing in general. The company here greatly boosts TDS HMS through acquisition and the planned new facility.