Area IT firm makes two acquisitions

TAMPA — ConnectWise, a Tampa-based IT firm that specializes in software and expert services for technology solution providers (TSPs), has acquired a pair of cybersecurity companies: Perch Security and StratoZen. 

According to a press release, the acquisitions’ technology will power ConnectWise’s Fortify security management platform. 

“We want to make cybersecurity less complex for TSPs by providing technology that makes it easy to collect, assess and respond to security data from many different point products,” ConnectWise CEO Jason Magee states in the release. “These acquisitions are about far more than the technology: We are gaining extremely talented and innovative colleagues with a deep understanding of cybersecurity, and a laser focus on what their partners need to succeed.” 

Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed in the release. 

In early 2019, ConnectWise founder Arnie Bellini sold the homegrown company to Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm, for $1.5 billion — a transaction that made millionaires of 70 ConnectWise employees. A few months later, it acquired Boston-based Continuum as well as ITBoost, headquartered in Irving, Texas.

“Good security requires answering some basic questions that can be difficult to answer: what are my risks, how do I know when I’m under attack and how do I respond?” states Brian Downey, ConnectWise’s vice president of security product management, in the release. “The reason it’s hard is because our industry has taken the flawed approach of adding more tools, more staff, more complexity — all contributing to silos of chaos. With Perch and StratoZen, we’re changing that approach, capturing only the data managed service providers need and helping them make sense of it so they can protect their customers more effectively and efficiently.”