Security solutions provider AVG Technologies is acquiring LPI Level Platforms Inc., an Ottawa-based company that builds remote monitoring and management software, adding its services for small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs).
AVG, which made the announcement June 12, will be adding LPI’s Managed Workplace software to its own product, AVG CloudCare, which was launched last year. CloudCare allows users to remotely deploy and manage clients’ security with AVG AntiVirus.
LPI’s software is also cloud-based, allowing IT administrators to manage their companies’ entire IT infrastructure across all devices, applications, networks and cloud. Plus, the LPI acquisition will boost AVG’s distributor network by 1,500 more LPI managed service providers as partners.
AVG acquired LPI for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to go through by the end of the month.
Acquiring LPI Level Platforms and leveraging its software should be a natural complement to what AVG already does, says Mike Foreman, general manager of SMBs at AVG.
“It is really a knitting together of two products, by bringing these two platforms together … and we will add a lot of automation,” he says. “There’s going to be some synergies … not having to manage two platforms or have two sets of engineers trained upon two sets of technologies.”
The acquisition should also benefit LPI’s resellers, Foreman says. Although acquisitions can sometimes be a threat to channel business, there shouldn’t be any disruption with this deal. Resellers will get the simplicity of two complementary products, billed via one invoice and on a subscription basis, he adds. The deal will also give LPI’s resellers access to a global market, rather than just confining them to North America.
“This really isn’t an acquisition where we just bought a company and … we didn’t know what to do with it. This really is a company that we looked at, had the same ethos and mentality of where AVG wants to go … it really is an integral part of our SMB business.”