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NEWS
Mar 13th 2000: Systems integrator The Taylor Group swopped identities with its ASP division ManagedOps.com on Thursday (Mar 10th) in a corporate namechange accompanied by a $50m first-round venture investment. It announced agreements with over fifty US solutions integrators to deliver its ASP services to small and medium-sized businesses nationwide. Bedford NH-based Taylor Group, founded 1987, launched its ASP service under the 'ManagedOperations' brandname six months ago in Sep 1999. Now the company is adopting ManagedOps.com as its formal corporate identity, while its old name becomes the brand of an operating unit that will continue to provide systems integration services to its established customer base in the US Northeast. The name change was accompanied by $50m in first-round funding from Boston-based investment firm Great Hill Partners. Representing the largest single first-round investment in a pureplay enterprise ASP so far seen in the industry, the funds are to finance expansion of the company's ASP market activities. ManagedOps.com aims to become North America's leading full-service ASP, the company said in a statement. It will deliver its servicees through partnerships with solutions integrators serving local geographical and vertical markets, and has already signed agreements with more than fifty in the US, with more planned. The change of name from The Taylor Group, which has a track record of helping other integrators in the Great Plains partner channel, is intended to support this strategy by emphasising the switch away from direct sales to an indirect model. The company will continue to serve customers direct under its old name in the local region where it has an established market presence, but is not planning to expand this operation elsewhere. Nevertheless, the company's headcount will more than double this year with the addition of around 200 staff to bolster its backoffice, research and development, and partner support teams. The ManagedOps.com service is based around software from Great Plains, Siebel Systems and Microsoft, using Citrix thin client technology. Cisco and Compaq are also partners of the ASP. Its name reflects its mission to deliver a complete set of managed operations to businesses in the $10m to $250m annual revenue bracket. "ManagedOps.com delivers the integrated computing and business services platform that companies need to realize the promise of e-business,� said founder and CEO Dan Taylor in a statement. In its former guise as The Taylor Group, ManagedOps.com was one of the twenty-five original founding members of the ASP Industry Consortium, and has long been recognised by peers and partners in the Great Plains and Citrix integrator communities as a leading ASP player. It began recruiting partners for its ASP operation as early as last summer, but until last week's announcement had otherwise kept a relatively low profile compared to others in the industry. ManagedOps.com operates its own data centre in Bedford NH and is nearing completion of an enlarged 93,000 sq ft facility representing an investment of $12m.
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ANALYSIS
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