ConnectWise VARs let in on acquisition secret

Vendor understood to announce ScreenConnect buy this afternoon

ConnectWise has let its partner community in early on news of an acquisition it is understood to be making public this afternoon.

The business-management tech vendor posted a private link to its UK User Group community this morning with news of the buy – which is understood to be made public at 2pm – but the link was already live and led to the information, a source told CRN.

The Florida-based firm, which at the start of this year began a major expansion into the UK and Europe, is set to snap up ScreenConnect, a brand of Elsinore Technology which sells a self-hosted, remote meeting product.

In a FAQ section on the link sent to partners, ConnectWise said the buy is part of its strategy to invest in and enhance its product offerings for the managed services market. It said partners will reap the benefits of the buy.

"The addition of ScreenConnect infuses fast and secure remote control into our solutions offerings, delivering value to our existing partners by offering a breadth of functionality, flexibility, and customisation that the bigger, bloated, and less innovative remote control products cannot match," ConnectWise said in the post.

A partner and customer webcast is planned for 19 February in which ConnectWise's chief operating officer David Bellini and other execs will talk through the buy in more detail.