VentraIP Australia has announced its acquisition of Australia's longest-running domain name registrar and web-hosting provider IntaServe for an undisclosed amount in a seven-figure deal.

After 14 years, the Queensland-based IntaServe will cease trading as a separate entity, with its existing customers migrating over to VentraIP, which said it will honour all pre-existing contracts.
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Angelo Giuffrida -- the domain name registrar's chief executive officer -- spoke with ZDNet about the company's latest acquisition, saying that while there is no intention to consolidate the companies at the moment, VentraIP has not ruled out relaunching the IntaServ brand as a premium service, saying it is something that may be in the pipeline.

The IntaServ deal is the company's largest acquisition to date, but it has not been sitting in silence.

Earlier this year, VentraIP picked up New South Wales-based 9web, after the boutique web hosting and domain name reseller -- which was also a wholesale client of the company itself -- contacted Giuffrida in a bid to find a suitable hosting service to suit its 1,500-plus customers after the company sought to head in another direction.

In addition to 9web, the self-funded VentraIP also acquired "assets" of GoDedicated in April this year, by way of acquiring the particular talents of a staff member who joined the VentraIP team as a result.

"GoDedicated has established itself as a solid local player in the Melbourne market, and we intend to leverage that growth going forward," Giuffrida said.

While the CEO said he could not disclose any information on further acquisitions that the independent domain name registrar might have in its sights, he did warn of a potential influx of smaller registrars finding their way to the boardrooms of larger companies.

"With the auDA [.au Domain Administration] requirement for dot-au registrars to be ISS [Information Security Standard] compliant -- due in October -- a lot of the smaller Australian registrars whose main focus isn't necessarily domain names or web hosting will consider selling to larger corporations that already have the resources dedicated to achieving this compliance.

"A lot of these smaller companies do not have the resources to complete this security compliance, and they will be looking up to the bigger guys for consolidation. The cost-to-benefit ratio for these smaller registrars is just not worth it, and it's less of a headache for them to sell to an already accredited registrar."

Giuffrida said that IntraIP's growing portfolio clearly demonstrates its ability to take on acquisitions, and is keen to continue the growth of his company.

"We've reached the point now where, although we are still organically growing, we've now got the capital behind us to chase these acquisitions to further our product portfolio.

"We're after new and exciting services that may not specifically be tailored to web hosting or domain names, but still something we can offer our clientèle in terms of new services.

"A very exciting time for us and the web-hosting industry as a whole.

"Domain hosting is our bread and butter, and will remain our core focus. Our continual growth will be more about adding value to our existing clients and those we pick up as part of an acquisition like the one we just announced."

Source:http://www.zdnet.com