BT attacks U.S. enterprise market with INS acquisition

BT has agreed to acquire IT consulting and software company International Network Services to improve its appeal to global industries based in the North America.

INS specializes in Enterprise Architecture and Governance, Business Productivity, Information Risk Management, and Infrastructure Transformation. It is based in Santa Clara, Calif., and although it also has offices in Europe and Asia, the majority of its consultants are based in the U.S. INS has served approximately 75% of Fortune 500 enterprises and more than half of the Fortune 1000 companies.

INS has approximately 900 employees in twelve countries and as of September 25, 2005, had gross assets of $49.7 million. The deal, reportedly worth $196 million is expected to close within the month.

Chuck Pol, president of BT Americas said the acquisition will boost BT’s ability to supply world-class professional services to global companies in the U.S.

“Of the top 2000 clients BT is focusing on, 1300 of them sit in the US or Canada. That’s where our customers are and they say in order to compete in a global environment you need to be able to provide us service in the U.S.,” Pol said.

This is BT’s fourth acquisition in the last 2.5 years, including Calif.-based Counterpane in October, which improved BT’s competencies in security and professional services. INS will become a wholly owned subsidiary of BT.

David Butze, president and chief executive officer of INS, said his company represents predominantly Fortune 2000 companies and generates approximately 250 to 300 accounts every year and serves about 800 accounts on a rotational basis.

“We are going through a significant transformation in the industry where there is lots of infrastructure transformation…and there is a very significant lack of consistency in U.S.-based companies with international footprints can count on to build out these large, converged IP networks,” Butze said. “The work we do enables that. We feel we are in a great position with BT to create a significant front end that enables these types of programs on a consistent basis.”