MegaPath acquires remote access firm

MegaPath Networks today said it would acquire TManage in an all-equity deal that merges TManage’s remote access VPN and security managed services with MegaPath’s IP access platform.

MegaPath chief marketing officer Dan Foster said the carrier has been looking for a consolidation partner over the past year to add VPN and remote access functionality to its portfolio of access and security services. “We wanted to stack value on the last mile,” Foster said. “TManage was the perfect fit.”

MegaPath now offers DSL, full and fractional T1, T3, ISDN and cable services through wholesale contracts that give MegaPath access to 9000 central offices in the U.S. TManage’s network will extend that reach to thousands of analog dial-up, ISDN, and public points of presence spanning 150 countries, as well as give it access to 3500 points of presence.

The deal effectively gives MegaPath an international remote access footprint, a larger broadband access network and additional network based services to offer its business customers, said Carey Balzer, president and CEO of TManage. Balzer will become MegaPath's chief operating officer under CEO Harry Taxin after the acquisition closes.

MegaPath will keep its corporate headquarters in Pleasanton, Calif., and will continue to operate TManage’s Austin, Texas-based operations center, along with several TManage sales offices across the country. MegaPath said it expects to take a one-time acquisition-related charge in the fourth quarter, but expects that the combined companies will become EBIDTA positive by the first quarter of 2004 and post annual revenues of $100 million for that fiscal year.