Sage Networks Inc, a web hosting software and services company from Cambridge, Massachusetts, has acquired groupware and application hosting company Interliant Inc, and at the same time changed its own name to Interliant. The acquisition, made under non-disclosed terms, is the third by the former Sage this year. The company says it has focused on becoming the industry leader in web hosting and to that end has been following a growth-through-acquisition strategy that has seen it complete twelve acquisitions since it was founded in 1997.
Houston, Texas-based Interliant has enjoyed a long-running involvement in rentable applications, having joined forces with IBM subsidiary Lotus in 1997 to co-develop a hosting version of the latter’s Domino Web server. After helping a number of developers bring rentable applications to market in 1998, Interliant followed up in September with the launch of its AppsOnline web site, a showroom for rentable applications that users can sign up for online.
Although Interliant fits within the generic definition of an application service provider, it differs from others in that it sees itself more as a wholesaler, acting as an outlet for smaller vendors and as a resource for local suppliers and resellers. The AppsOnline site gives Lotus developers an opportunity to offer Domino and Notes-based applications to a wider market than they could otherwise reach. Some of the applications can be rented on the spot with an online credit card payment. But others require configuration and even the installation of client-side software.
James Lidestri, formerly president and CEO of Interliant, now becomes executive vice president. The acquisition follows that of web hosting firm Digiweb Inc, audio hosting and music-on-hold company Telephonetics International and IT consulting firm Net Daemons Associates Inc since the beginning of the year. The new company has three primary data centers in Atlanta, Houston and Washington DC. á
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