IBM partners Apex and ACS form strategic alliance

VARs agree to draw on each other's strengths through formal partnership

Nick King: ACS sees this as a way of broadening its portfolio

IBM partners Apex and Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) have formed a strategic alliance aimed at broadening each firm’s expertise.

Nick King, chairman of Apex, told CRN the tie-up would allow ACS to extend the services it offers to its clients by drawing on Apex’s 62-strong workforce.

Meanwhile, the partnership will bolster Apex’s position with vendors such as NetApp and EMC, King said.

US-based IT services outfit ACS already works in the UK IBM arena, having gobbled up Big Blue partners Anix and Syan in 2009 and 2008 respectively. ACS itself has since been acquired by printing goliath Xerox.

But King said ACS could still profit from Apex’s skills base.

“We are an established organisation and therefore offer a range of products and services on a project basis, consultancy and managed services,” he said. “ACS sees this as a way of broadening its portfolio.”

This would include in areas where Apex is strong, such as wireless networking and point of sale, said King.

“We see an opportunity with EMC and NetApp,” he added. “We recently closed a significant NetApp deal with a stockbroker that we fulfilled through the partnership.”

King said the alliance would complement, rather than replace, Apex’s plans to hit the acquisition trail.

“We chatted to a couple of firms but still haven’t found the right target,” he explained.

“We have just finished off the year and had an excellent year in a challenging market. With the ACS relationship on top of that we are very buoyant about our financial year 2010/11.”

Jacqui Davey, vice president of business partners, IBM UK and Ireland, said: "Building extended business partner ecosystems to drive incremental value to each party, and most importantly to the end users, is of increasing importance in delivering the building blocks of a smarter planet."