Autotask Passes Ownership of VARStreet Through Employee Buyout

Autotask,
a provider of hosted IT business management solutions, announced that it
has signed an agreement to transfer ownership of its VARStreet quoting and
e-commerce product line, including all ongoing development, sales, hosting,
implementation, support and billing, through an employee buyout. Autotask
software manages critical business operations and processes for technology
services-centric organizations, and its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform
is designed to be open.

The
new company, VARStreet Inc., backed by private investors, will be led by
VARStreet veterans Shankar Gopalan and Shiv Agarwal, who built VARStreet’s
existing client base and customer relationships, and Vikas Bhir and his team,
who have helped create, develop and support the VARStreet service since its
inception. VARStreet is an SaaS-based suite of integrated e-commerce automation
tools that combines real-time distributor pricing with quoting and an optional
electronic storefront. The service is designed to provide a scalable way for
technology solutions providers to simplify and streamline how they source,
quote, procure, sell and deliver IT products and services.

The
sale was structured to ensure that current users see no change in their
VARStreet service, catalogs, add-ons or customizations, and user data will not
be moved or at risk during the transition. Ongoing support, implementation and
development activities will proceed without interruption as the VARStreet team
remains in place, the company said.

Autotask’s open architecture software allows users to access it through any
browser or mobile device, to support optimization and automation of clients’
existing workflows and to integrate the other tools and systems clients use to
service their clients, as well as IT and other technology solution providers
around the world.

“The
decision to divest from VARStreet was not an easy one, but I am confident it
was the right one for VARStreet users, for the VARStreet team and for Autotask
Corporation,” said Mark Cattini, Autotask president and CEO.  “Autotask’s
strategic goal is to remain open, especially to the tools our global clients
use to service their customers, and the ongoing development and support of
VARStreet is outside of our core focus. Therefore, we believe our users will be
better served with VARStreet as an independent company, focused exclusively on
the VARStreet product suite.”

Shiv
Agarwal, vice president of VARStreet, said the company is committed to
providing the best service and support to their customers and will continue to
invest and enhance the platform’s capability going forward to meet their
customer requirements.