The global cloud services provider SherWeb is acquiring Pulsar 360, a digital communications company, to expand into the rapidly developing voice-over-internet-protocol market.
SherWeb’s CEO, Peter Cassar, said in announcing the acquisition that his company had been seeking a path to access the VoIP market for some time and looking for a partner with existing experience in the sector.
The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, will allow SherWeb, based in Sherbrooke, Quebec, to increase its exposure to the VoIP market more quickly.
Pulsar 360, founded in 2001, is regarded as one of the oldest VoIP digital phone service companies operating in the United States and Canada. The company was an early proponent of the use of cloud technology in the telecommunications market.
It currently provides services to more than 1,200 customers. The services include disaster recovery, customized carrier services, PBX hosting and SIP trunking.
SherWeb is a leading distributor of business-to-business cloud services. It works with resellers by offering them a platform and a wide range of cloud services such as private cloud and multi-tenant SharePoint hosting solutions. Its clients use SherWeb’s platformOpens a new window to select, provision and manage cloud services for end customers. The company currently services 5,000 partners and 50,000 customers in more than 100 countries.
Last month, SherWeb launched a unified communications as a service (UCaaS)Opens a new window platform for the North American market that integrates its hosted PBX solution with Microsoft cloud products like Office 365 and Dynamics 365.
The service includes hosted voice, email, video conferencing and presence technology. It is designed to help telecom resellers meet their clients’ needs using one single, powerful suite.
Executives of both companies say Pulsar 360 will remain an independent entity under the terms of the deal and that the acquisition will not affect the current composition of the firm or the services it provides to VoIP clients.
Pulsar 360’s CEO Michael Dozier, however, is retiring after eight years running the firm and more than four decades in the telecommunications industry. His executive vice president, Gerald Smurlick, also is retiring.
Newly named CEO Michael Williams, the firm’s former chief operations officer, says it will be business as usual for Pulsar 360. “The big difference,†he says, “is that Pulsar 360 will have access to a whole new set of resources and capabilities. This partnership will allow us to provide even better solutions and services to our partners and customers.â€
Blue Beacon Capital, an investment bank specializing in the telecommunications market, served as the adviser to Sherweb throughout the transaction.
Key Takeaways:
- Sherweb has acquired Pulsar 360 in its continued drive into the VoIP services market as it seeks to leverage the scale and diversity of the services that it offers resellers.
- Pulsar 360 will continue to operate as an independent company under the Sherweb umbrella with a distinct business as usual approach. However, its clients will benefit from new resources and capabilities offered by Sherweb.
- Pulsar 360 is an established provider of VoIP services to the North American market, indeed one of its oldest specialist players. It was an early adopter of cloud technology for telecoms and will be a useful partner for Sherweb, which has been increasing its hosted PBX offering recently.