Avnet Announces Agreement to Acquire BrightStar Partners and BSP Software

Avnet

announced today that it has agreed to acquire BrightStar Partners, Inc., an IBM Business Analytics and Performance Management consulting firm, as well as BSP Software LLC, an IBM Business Analytics software vendor (collectively BSP). BSP is an IBM Premier Business Partner, IBM Value Added Reseller and IBM Independent Software Vendor focused on the IBM Cognos Business Analytics product portfolio with expertise in the areas of business intelligence, financial performance management, enterprise scorecarding and data warehousing. This acquisition, which is expected to close within thirty days, will be integrated into the Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas services organization. In addition to professional services, BSP develops and distributes Implementation-Based Software® applications that extend business value and assist in the administration, development and support of IBM Cognos software. BSP also owns and operates COGNOiSe.com, the world's largest independent peer-to-peer collaborative IBM Cognos support community, with more than 15,000 members worldwide. As an end-to-end solutions provider, BSP partners with companies to improve their business performance through maximizing their investment in technology and processes to drive better information throughout the enterprise. The company generated revenue of approximately US$10 million in the 2011 calendar year. “This acquisition is part of our long-term strategy to enhance the depth and breadth of our IBM services and software capabilities while providing the expertise our partners need,” said Jeff Bawol, president Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. “BSP complements the offerings available through our recent acquisition of Ascendant Technology and will be managed through Americas' services organization. Our ability to provide a complete solution of software, services and hardware will drive growth for our suppliers and value-added resellers.” Founded in 2004, BrightStar Partners' broad technical and business experience provides the highest quality end-to-end solutions to help enterprises realize the benefits from their reporting, analysis, dashboarding, data warehousing, planning and consolidation solutions, all while shortening the time to market for implementation and realizing true business value. BSP Software was formed in 2006 to extend the value of IBM Cognos solutions and add capabilities to IBM Cognos users worldwide. Over time, BSP's patented product portfolio has grown to include Administration, Lifecycle Management, Version Control and Performance Monitoring, among others.