Mainline Buys KgW For IBM, VMware Expertise
November 28, 2011 Timothy Prickett Morgan
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IBM system reseller Mainline Information Systems is expanding its reach in the United States with the acquisition of KgW & Company. Mainline, based in Tallahassee, Florida, is one of the largest resellers of IBM mainframes, Power Systems, and System x machines in the United States, and it also has a tidy business peddling Hewlett-Packard‘s X86-based ProLiant and Itanium-based Integrity and Superdome systems. Mainline was founded in 1989 by Rick Kearney in the wake of the AS/400 launch and was initially focused on IBM’s proprietary midrange platform. In the 1990s, Mainline became one of the largest resellers of IBM mainframes. In 2004, Mainline acquired Cornerstone Systems, one of its main competitors in the “True Blue” reseller biz and in the mainframe racket in particular. A year ago, Mainline needed to expand its server portfolio to reach a larger group of customers and added HP’s server, storage, and networking products. KgW was founded in 1993 and is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by former IBM employees Trish Way, Ken Way, and Terry Paone. The company is a reseller of IBM systems, as well as its Lotus groupware and Tivoli systems management tools, and has also partnered with VMware for server virtualization and virtual desktops. “We are excited to welcome KgW & Company into the Mainline organization,” said Doug Harrell, senior vice president of Mainline, in a statement announcing the deal. “Their focused expertise in providing IBM solutions, as well as their solid partnership with VMware, matches perfectly with our current strategic direction and will also extend our existing reach deeper into the southeast marketplace.” The financial terms of the KgW acquisition by Mainline were not disclosed. RELATED STORIES Mainline Buys Systems Integrator CompServ Reseller Mainline to Acquire Competitor Cornerstone Mainline and BPO Partner to Offer Managed Hosting and Co-Location
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