XETA, As PAETEC Buy Looms, Recharges Hospitality Strategy
Value-added reseller XETA Technologies Inc., which is being acquired by PAETEC Holding Corp., has launched a new unit focused on hospitality.
The move comes now even as XETA built much of its foundation on servicing hotels. In the early 1980s, the company used its call accounting systems to help hotels and resorts gain profits from add-on communications offered to travelers. But then XETA expanded into the PBX business and became a converged communications provider for enterprises.
Still, XETA couldnt ignore the sector that helped give the VAR its start.
The hospitality vertical has always been a very special and important part of our business,” said Greg Forrest, CEO of XETA. So, thanks to its purchase last year of network and broadband specialist Lorica Solutions, XETA has formed a division that will target just the hospitality vertical. Mark Holzberg, former Lorica CEO, has taken over as managing director of XETA Hospitality Solutions and its nearly 3,000 hotel clients.
XETA began as a niche player in the hospitality industry and has a rich history in the market,” Holzberg said. We plan to build on that history with continued innovation and expansion.”
The renewed emphasis should serve XETA well as it becomes a subsidiary of PAETEC; PAETEC said earlier this month it was snapping up XETA at $5.50 per share for its managed services capabilities, as well as complementary national reach and customers. And the timing for XETA Hospitality Solutions seems prurient. According to research firm In-Stat, hospitality is among the verticals that will spend more than $13 billion, combined, on cloud computing and managed hosting in 2014.
