X

USWeb takes expansion overseas

Fresh off its acquisition of CKS, the Internet services and consulting firm USWeb has purchased two companies abroad.

Kim Girard
Kim Girard has written about business and technology for more than a decade, as an editor at CNET News.com, senior writer at Business 2.0 magazine and online writer at Red Herring. As a freelancer, she's written for publications including Fast Company, CIO and Berkeley's Haas School of Business. She also assisted Business Week's Peter Burrows with his 2003 book Backfire, which covered the travails of controversial Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. An avid cook, she's blogged about the joy of cheap wine and thinks about food most days in ways some find obsessive.
See full bio
Kim Girard
Fresh off its acquisition of CKS, Internet services and consulting firm USWeb has purchased two companies abroad to help raise its international profile.

Since January 1997, the Santa Clara, California-based firm has bulked up by acquiring more than 30 U.S.-based companies.

Its latest purchases, Sysicom, a French networking and computer security products integrator, and Internetworking Systems Group, a Canadian network integrator, are part of USWeb/CKS's plan this year to expand its international scope and grow the firm internally, the company said.

Sysicom, founded ten years ago, is shifting its focus toward data center reengineering, systems and network architecture, facilities management, and intranet and extranet security. The company's clients include automaker Renault and telecommunications firm Alcatel.

Internetworking Systems provides consulting and integration services to clients building networks to carry voice, images, and data.

ISG's customers include Applied Technology Solutions, AT&T Canada Long Distance Services, the Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank Commerce, Cisco Systems, Sprint Canada, and Royal Bank of Canada.

Both companies' strengths will be folded into the USWeb/CKS Network Solutions practice.

USWeb sealed its $540 million merger with CKS last month. With this week's acquisitions, USWeb/CKS has offices in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.