• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Best Buy to Acquire IBM i Cloud Provider mindSHIFT

    November 15, 2011 Alex Woodie

    Electronics retailer Best Buy is about to get into the IBM i cloud business. Last week the $50 billion company announced its intent to buy mindSHIFT Technologies, a Massachusetts-based managed service provider (MSP) that has hosted IBM i servers for several years, and launched a public IBM i cloud offering in 2010. The $167 million deal would give Best Buy entry into the burgeoning MSP market for small and midsize companies–and give the Geek Squad some green-screen cred.

    mindSHIFT Technologies provides cloud services, data center services, and professional services to more than 5,400 clients and 25,000 desktops in the U.S. The company employs about 500 people in offices in Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., and operates multiple SAS 70 Part II-compliant data centers around the country.

    Providing IBM i services is a small but important part of mindSHIFT’s business. The company provides a range of services for the venerable IBM platform, including server co-location, fully managed hosting, public cloud services, disaster recovery and high availability, and remote management.

    mindSHIFT is one of just a handful of MSPs around the country that offers access to a public cloud infrastructure based on IBM i servers. The company runs production SAP and Oracle JD Edwards ERP systems on IBM i servers, and also has a partnership with VAI.

    The IBM i cloud and IBM i hosting businesses directly accounted for about 10 percent of its $100 million-a-year business, mindSHIFT officials told IT Jungle in an interview earlier this year. Hosting X64 servers, VMware environments, Microsoft CRM systems, Windows desktops, and VoIP environments is a bigger business for mindSHIFT. But the overall effect of IBM i is much greater than that, officials say, because of all the other ancillary management business, or “drag,” that comes with winning an IBM i hosting account.

    Best Buy’s acquisition of mindSHIFT is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The intent is to let mindSHIFT continue to operate as an independent unit, next to Best Buy’s existing computer and office equipment services business, including Geek Squad and Best Buy for Business. The deal gives Best Buy a boost in the $40 billion MSP-for-SMBs market, and gives it an edge in the legal, healthcare, financial, non-profit, and education verticals.

    “There’s no question that acquiring the skills, capabilities, and clients of mindSHIFT has the potential to help expand Best Buy’s global services capabilities in the vast small and mid-sized business market,” George Sherman, senior vice president of Best Buy Services, says in a press release. “As important, the mindSHIFT team will bring added experience, talent and resources to the remote support capability we have been building within our multi-channel tech service unit Geek Squad.”

    RELATED STORIES

    Where’s the IBM-Based IBM i Cloud Offering?

    IBM’s Power-Based SmartClouds on the Horizon

    At mindSHIFT, IBM i Hosting Options Abound

    Wanted: Cloud-i i-nfrastructure

    IBM Launches Power7-Based Cloudy Stacks

    Wanted: An AS/400-Centric System of Systems



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored by
    VISUAL LANSA 16 WEBINAR

    Trying to balance stability and agility in your IBM i environment?

    Join this webinar and explore Visual LANSA 16 – our enhanced professional low-code platform designed to help organizations running on IBM i evolve seamlessly for what’s next.

    🎙️VISUAL LANSA 16 WEBINAR

    Break Monolithic IBM i Applications and Unlock New Value

    Explore modernization without rewriting. Decouple monolithic applications and extend their value through integration with modern services, web frameworks, and cloud technologies.

    🗓️ July 10, 2025

    ⏰ 9 AM – 10 AM CDT (4 PM to 5 PM CEST)

    See the webinar schedule in your time zone

    Register to join the webinar now

    What to Expect

    • Get to know Visual LANSA 16, its core features, latest enhancements, and use cases
    • Understand how you can transition to a MACH-aligned architecture to enable faster innovation
    • Discover native REST APIs, WebView2 support, cloud-ready Azure licensing, and more to help transform and scale your IBM i applications

    Read more about V16 here.

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Sponsored Links

    Micro Focus:  RUMBA for iSeries, the world's most used terminal emulation software
    The 400 School:  Fall Training Sale – Discounts up to 40%! RPG IV COBOL CL Admin Security
    ASNA:  Wings™ - The faster, easier way to a better System i user interface

    IT Jungle Store Top Book Picks

    BACK IN STOCK: Easy Steps to Internet Programming for System i: List Price, $49.95

    The iSeries Express Web Implementer's Guide: List Price, $49.95
    The iSeries Pocket Database Guide: List Price, $59
    The iSeries Pocket SQL Guide: List Price, $59
    The iSeries Pocket WebFacing Primer: List Price, $39
    Migrating to WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49
    Getting Started with WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49
    The All-Everything Operating System: List Price, $35
    The Best Joomla! Tutorial Ever!: List Price, $19.95

    ASNA Readies Wings Update For Next ‘palooza NULL and NOT IN

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 11, Number 38 -- November 15, 2011
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

Maxava
Help/Systems
ASNA
Computer Keyes
RJS Software Systems

Table of Contents

  • PlanetJ Unveils Free Edition of IBM i Web App Dev Tool
  • RVI and Quadrant Debut Remote Signature Capture for iPads
  • NGS Updates IBM i-Based BI Suite
  • Quantum Boosts Disk Array and Tape Library Capacity
  • Best Buy to Acquire IBM i Cloud Provider mindSHIFT
  • Crossroads to Debut StrongBox, an LTFS-Based Archive
  • Food Distributor Taps DSC for IBM i HA Service
  • IBS Opens Product Roadmap to Customers
  • Lawson Software Smoothes Employee Exits
  • Linoma: DMZ Gateway Tightens File Transfer Security

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • Liam Allan Shares What’s Coming Next With Code For IBM i
  • From Stable To Scalable: Visual LANSA 16 Powers IBM i Growth – Launching July 8
  • VS Code Will Be The Heart Of The Modern IBM i Platform
  • The AS/400: A 37-Year-Old Dog That Loves To Learn New Tricks
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 25
  • Meet The Next Gen Of IBMers Helping To Build IBM i
  • Looks Like IBM Is Building A Linux-Like PASE For IBM i After All
  • Will Independent IBM i Clouds Survive PowerVS?
  • Now, IBM Is Jacking Up Hardware Maintenance Prices
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 24

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle