Champion Solutions Group Buys DirecLogix To Bolster Southeast Dominance

‘We really want to be a dominant player in Florida and southeast marketplace,’ Champion Solutions Group CEO and President Chris Pyle tells CRN. ‘Customers aren’t looking for more vendors. They’re looking to have less vendors with more capabilities. That’s really the value of our two organizations coming together.’

Champion Solutions Group has acquired the fast-growing DirecLogix, a growing solution provider on CRN’s Fast Growth 150 list that’s also based in Florida.

Champion Solutions Group CEO and President Chris Pyle said DirecLogix has a 15-year history, which will deepen the skills offered by the new combined entity, particularly around HPE products and the Intel platform space. Pyle said this is part of his company’s plan to “propel its next generation data center and software capabilities,” meaning Champion can now offer customers an even larger selection of offerings.

“We really want to be a dominant player in Florida and southeast marketplace,” Champion Solutions Group CEO and President Chris Pyle told CRN. “DirecLogix, we knew of them because they’re in Florida. We were in the same accounts selling different solutions, representing different vendors. We had different talent pools. Now the ability to bring us together, it forms such a stronger opportunity for our customers. Customers aren’t looking for more vendors. They’re looking to have less vendors with more capabilities. That’s really the value of our two organizations coming together.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pyle said one of DirecLogix’s advantages is its relationship with HPE.

Pyle said Boca Raton, Fla.-based Champion Solutions Group was doing significant work with SimpliVity, which was acquired by HPE for $650 million in 2017.

“We have some very good SimpliVity wins, but truth be told, our bench of HPE qualified engineers and qualified sales was not to the level that HPE wanted or our customers,” Pyle said. “DirecLogix really helps us round out our HPE technical capabilities to bring to our 800 existing clients.”

He said, meanwhile, DirecLogix customers can benefit from the deep portfolio of products and skills that Champion brings, including its own IP, Microsoft Cloud products, as well as an array of security and data protection items.

“With today’s rapidly changing technology landscape, the depth and breadth of our combined organizations will ensure our customers have access to best-in-class solutions along with the technical expertise to achieve their digital transformation objectives,” DirecLogix’s leader Aleef Adam said in a statement. “We couldn’t be more optimistic to join forces with such a great team of people at Champion, who are extremely talented given their four decades of experience in this industry.”

DirecLogix, founded in 2005, said the company showed 327-percent growth over three years, which landed the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., solution provider a spot on the Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies list, as well as a seat on CRN’s Fast Growth 150 list.

Champion, No. 194 on the 2018 CRN Solution Provider 500, focuses on virtualization, cloud, and data management solutions. The company is a ServiceNow partner, and boasts technical skill sets in design, implementation, and management of these solutions, the company said in a statement.