Ideas International has completed its $1 million buyout of DH Brown Associates, a US-based IT research consultancy, helping to expand its own core services in infrastructure technology performance and price assessment through competitive profiling.
The merging of the two firms will broaden and complement Ideas International's own research services for clients on the buy and sell-side of the industry, Ideas International chief executive Ian Birks said.
An AXS-listed company with its headquarters in Sydney, Ideas International specialises in comparative technical analysis of infrastructure products and services. New-York based DH Brown Associates performs in-depth analysis of computing technologies to support product lifecycle management and IT research. Birks said the buyout also helps Ideas expand its footprint in the Americas, Europe Middle East and Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
"Through the deal we want to reinforce [our] position as a B2B research and advisory firm focused on a deep understanding of the technical capabilities and cost of ownership of investments in servers, storage, operating systems, business continuity and middleware," Birks said. The agreement is a 50/50 cash and stock deal.
Within Australia, Ideas has four senior analysts and a team of junior analysts. Peter Cullen, who has headed the company's global research operations in the US, Europe and Australia for the last three years has been promoted to general manager Asia-Pacific.
Both research firms' existing customer contracts remain in place and continue to be supported, company officials said. The combined entity has offices in Australia, the US and UK.
Birks said the new company sits in between the large consultancy space (consisting of Gartner, Meta Group and IDC) and the small niche end of the market.
No DHBA analysts will transfer to Ideas International, the company said.