PGi Acquires Microsoft Lync Specialist Modality Systems

Enterprise collaboration vendor PGi bought a substantial Microsoft Lync practice with the acquisition last week of Modality Systems Limited.

PGi, an Atlanta-based publicly traded company with $527 million in 2013 revenues and 2,100 employees selling and supporting solutions in 25 countries, will maintain the acquired company as a wholly owned subsidiary doing business as Modality Systems, a PGi company.

"In our account base over the last few years, we've seen increasing momentum toward unified communications in general and Microsoft Lync in particular," said Sean O'Brien, executive vice president for strategy and communications at PGi, in an interview. "Catering to the large enterprise, Lync is a force to be reckoned with in the market. We've seen a lot of opportunity, and embracing Lync is a key tenet in our strategy."

After a lengthy process of evaluating Lync partners, including consultation with Microsoft, PGi pursued Modality, O'Brien said. "We are buying Modality and its platform because they have a vision of the future of Lync that we think is very complementary with our vision," he said.

Terms of the deal, which PGi funded through a credit facility, weren't disclosed. Modality is an international practice with 75 employees and offices in London, Seattle, San Jose and Sydney. Staff include 45 Lync certified professionals, six Lync MVPs and three certified Lync Masters. The company was a finalist for Microsoft 2014 Communications Partner of the Year.

O'Brien said Modality's 100 percent focus on Lync, through enterprise consulting services and software development, was key for PGi.

John Lamb, president of Modality Systems and co-founder of the company with James Rodd in 2007, said PGi, with its iMeet and GlobalMeet products, will give Modality's current and future customers new options. "We really see it as a service continuum. You might use Lync for five- to six-party conferences and collaboration. You're really going to want to use a company like a PGi for the critical components [above that]," he said.

O'Brien said the new ownership by PGi will also give Modality access to corporate resources that will help the Lync practice to continue "growing like a weed."

While PGi has a broad market focus, O'Brien said the company is not new to the Microsoft partner community. The company supports Lync Online clients in its collaboration products and was an early industry conferencing partner for the Lync server platform.

Posted by Scott Bekker on February 09, 2015