Blockbuster M&A Update: Cisco-BroadSoft, CenturyLink-Level 3, AT&T Data Centers

There was no slowing down 2018’s consolidation trend in February. After M&A activity blew the doors off of January, the Groundhog month didn’t disappoint.

It started with Cisco finalizing its purchase of BroadSoft in a move that takes it deeper into cloud and collaboration. AT&T considered a move to sell its data centers and Barracuda decided selling to a private-equity firm was the way to go.

But those are just a trio of the new acquisitions and updates to previously announced purchases highlighted in the gallery below. Click through to catch up on what you might have missed — and how it could impact your business.

Looking for more M&A? Click here to see the biggest channel-impacting mergers and acquisitions from January.

Follow executive editor @Craig_Galbraith on Twitter.

Cisco-BroadSoft

Cisco made a big splash back in October when it announced its purchase of BroadSoft, the cloud UC and services provider. Last month, it finalized the acquisition.

The deal puts Cisco on track for a full, multitenant SaaS collaboration solution. In a transaction worth $1.9 billion, Cisco can now tout partnerships with more than 450 telecom carriers in 80 countries, and it brings on 19 million BroadSoft business subscribers.

In November,  Art Schoeller, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, described the purchase as coming "after the train had left the station [for Cisco]." Nonetheless, it's an important one, he noted.

AT&T Data Centers

AT&T might just follow the lead of other communications giants such as Verizon, CenturyLink and Windstream, and sell its data centers.

An unnamed source told the Wall Street Journal that AT&T was in discussions with Bank of America about the possibility of unloading its data centers for up to $1 billion. AT&T lists 26 North American data centers on its website, and 57 worldwide.

Selling these facilities could save the carrier a little more cash as it waits for regulatory approval of its pending $85 billion Time Warner purchase.

CenturyLink-Level 3

A deal that closed last November is still making headlines.

CenturyLink co-channel chief John DeLozier spoke up at a BridgePointe Technologies event in San Francisco last month to quash rumors that CenturyLink partners will have to adopt new rules of engagement and potentially lose accounts to direct sales.

"None of that is true," DeLozier said.

Read more of what he had to say here.

LogMeIn-Jive

Jive Communications, a stalwart at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, will soon have a new owner.

LogMeIn, the provider of SaaS and cloud-based remote connectivity for collaboration, IT and customer engagement, is buying Jive in a deal worth $357 million.

Toni Iafrate, LogMeIn’s director of public relations, tells Channel Partners that Jive has done a great job building up a “very strong partner ecosystem.”

Google-Xively

Announced within days of its Jive purchase, LogMeIn said it is selling Xively to Google.

Xively provides a platform as a service (PaaS) for connecting smart products to the internet and managing the data they produce. The company also provides consulting services for business that are interested in building and deploying smart devices.

GTT-Interoute

GTT Communications is spending $2.3 billion on Interoute, the U.K. company known for its fiber network and cloud-networking solutions.

The buy, GTT execs say, will help the company continue its international expansion and add 1,000 mostly European enterprise and carrier customers to its lineup.

CloudJumper-IndependenceIT

CloudJumper bought the remaining assets of IndependenceIT one year after it purchased the company's IT services business.

IndependenceIT provides workspace-as-a-service (WaaS) enablement software for the deployment of applications, data and complete workspaces in the cloud.

CloudJumper will use IndependenceIT's Cloud Workspace Suite to expand WaaS and cloud-based app enablement for SMBs and enterprises.

CoreDial-Voice4Net

CoreDial said it's buying Voice4Net, the contact-center-as-a-service provider, in order to deliver a unified platform for the deployment of UC, collaboration and customer-interaction tools for business users — managed via a single interface.

Voice4Net brings to CoreDial a number of WebRTC-based contact-center services that include cloud, on-premises and hybrid infrastructures; two-way text messaging via the contact center; interactive voice response; routing and automation; and a customizable, widget-based interface.

PhishMe Rebrands as Cofense

A consortium of private-equity firms said it is buying PhishMe for $400 million and changing its name to Cofense.

Cofense offers tools that help businesses recognize malicious phishing emails. It has customers in a number of verticals, including energy, financial services and health care.

Splunk-Phantom Cyber

In addition to announcing partner program enhancements at its Global Partner Summit, Splunk made waves with the acquisition of Phantom Cyber, a provider of security orchestration, automation and response technologies.

The $350 million deal, expected to close by midyear, is expected to help Splunk customers respond more quickly to incidents and address the security skills shortage.

Oracle-Zenedge

Oracle inked a contract to buy cybersecurity vendor Zenedge, which helps secure critical IT systems deployed via cloud, on premises or in hybrid hosting environments.

Powered by artificial intelligence, Zenedge's products and around-the-cloud virtual security operations center (SOC) defend more than 800,000 web properties and global networks.

Oracle says the purchase will help it offer enterprise-ready infrastructure as a service (IaaS) with integrated web-application firewall (WAF) and DDoS services.

Lee Partners-Alfresco Software

Alfresco Software, the provider of enterprise content management and business-process management software, has a new owner.

Private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL) lay down the big bucks (though the number wasn't disclosed) for Alfresco. 

“The THL team has a great track record and lots of experience growing companies, and we look forward to working with them to enhance our ability to capture more customers and revenue in our market,” said Alfresco CMO Sydney Sloan.

Premier BPO-dinCloud

Premier BPO, which you might have guessed by its name is a business-process outsourcing company, is buying dinCloud, the cloud service provider that was among the first to offer hosted virtual desktops globally.

dinCloud's expertise is in helping companies migrate to the cloud with the help of VAR and MSP partners.

The merger will allow dinCloud and Premier BPO to share their expertise and capabilities of IT outsourcing and business-process outsourcing for customers as a broader portfolio, driving toward the concept of “everything as a service,” dinCloud said.