St. Croix Acquisition Expands Pinnacle's Minnesota Base

Following the acquisition of St. Croix Solutions, it appears that the Edmond, Oklahoma-based Pinnacle Business Systems is seeking to broaden and enhance its operations in Minnetonka, Minnesota, where the former is based.

The acquisition was made on December 31 of last year, according to the marketing director at Pinnacle, Amber Lawhun.

She stated: "We had a physical office there, but not for the last three years. It was not a growth area for us. So the opportunity to acquire St. Croix Solutions came about because we have a market there."

It is also apparent that both Pinnacle Business Systems and St. Croix Solutions both share similar vendor relationships, most notably EMC, Hitachi Data Systems and VMware, Lawhun added.

The Pinnacle-St. Croix relationship is expected to bring vendor partners of Pinnacle, such as IBM, Avaya, Hewlett-Packard, Tipping Point, Brocade, Cisco and VCE, to the customer base at St. Croix. Furthermore, new unified communications and security practices will be implemented with the acquisition.

According to Lawhun, "[St. Croix] need to take the next step to grow," and the acquisition will provide ample ground for the company to expand its business.

In the past, data center infrastructures have been the main business for both companies.

Pinnacle has an annual revenue of between $20 billion and $50 billion, and Lawhun additionally pointed out that the company is privately listed and as a result, the specific revenue for the company cannot be provided.

Another point of interest is that Pinnacle Business Systems has not made any acquisition since 2004, when it purchased Nebraska-based Kalos Group. The acquisition of St. Croix Solutions is Pinnacle's second purchase.

Prior to the acquisition of St. Croix Solutions, Pinnacle Business Systems had an employee-base of 55, but now an extra 15 will be added, Lawhun said.

The former owner and CEO of St. Croix, Jennifer VanDerHorst-Larson, and her husband, David, are two employees that will not be joining Pinnacle; they will persist in operating Minnetonka, Minnesota-based Vibrant Technologies, which is a reseller of used IT equipment. (CY) Link