ACS Enters U.K. with Syan Buy

U.S.
solution provider Affiliated Computer Services has dipped its toe in the

U.K.
market with the acquisition of
IBM
VAR
Syan for $60 million. 

Syan, which has trailing 12-month revenues of approximately $75 million,
will be rebranded as
ACS Syan and will
continue to be run by Syan’s existing management team, the company said. The
purchase means that
ACS will have two

U.K.
data centers, which could help the
VAR reach
out further into
Europe. 

“This acquisition strengthens
ACS’
end-to-end IT services. Syan’s data center facilities in the U.K., combined
with its exceptional subject matter expertise, will enable
ACS
to provide clients with multiscope IT services on a global scale,” said Derrell
James,
ACS senior managing director of IT outsourcing,
in a statement. ”
ACS will be able to
leverage an impressive suite of ITO services for our global clients who have
operations in the

U.K.
and
Europe.”

Syan plays mainly in the
IBM midmarket
space, and client services include server hosting and management, applications
management, desktop management, high-availability solutions, and help desk
operations, according to the firm.

ACS, which focuses on
BPO
and technology integration, is a Fortune 500 company with more than 62,000
employees and for its second-quarter fiscal 2008 reported revenues of $1.5
billion.