Jeff Pascke, Tier 1 Reseaerch
Dallas-based Horizon Data Center Solutions is expanding its service offerings with the acquisition of privately owned Mareechi. Dallas-based Mareechi is an application service provider (ASP) who provides managed services to more than 100 customers. Exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the combined company has projected revenues of over $20m for 2009.
Horizon provides datacenter colocation services from space leased from Digital Realty Trust in two datacenter facilities in Dallas. Horizon currently has a footprint of 37,000 square feet of datacenter space. Horizon added its second facility in Dallas at 2240 Marsh in December, which T1R has written about previously. Horizon started offering colocation services in mid-2008 and is planning to have four datacenters by mid-2009. Horizon is adding a datacenter facility in Houston and an additional facility in Dallas, which are both planned to open in Q2. Horizon is also planning to expand to Virginia in Q3.
Horizon has been looking to add a managed services division as part of its operations. The firm has a growth model that uses wholesale datacenter space, which permits for rapid expansion for its colocation business. T1R has seen colocation companies add managed services, partly as an answer to increased demand from enterprises, but also to increase ARPU with services on top of straight colocation, generating more revenue per cabinet. With the acquisition of Mareechi, Horizon is able to more quickly add managed services capabilities versus building this capability internally.
