Zlago CEO Michael Gold joins Intermedia as President
2011-06-14
Intermedia, a global leader in cloud services and the largest Microsoft Exchange hosting provider, today announced its acquisition of Zlago, a privately held provider of cloud services. The Zlago acquisition was executed as part of Intermedia’s recent acquisition by leading private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Zlago founder and CEO, Michael Gold, now serves as Intermedia’s president, reporting to Intermedia chairman and CEO Phil Koen – former CEO, Savvis (NASDAQ: SVVS).
Intermedia distributes cloud services to 38,000 small and mid-size business customers directly and through its 6,800 global channel partners. The company manages an industry-leading 320,000 premium hosted Exchange mailboxes. According to Phil Koen, CEO, Intermedia, “The Zlago acquisition will not only extend the level of cloud expertise within Intermedia, but it will also prove to be a catalyst for strategic growth within the Intermedia cloud services portfolio. Intermedia gains Michael Gold’s management, cloud, and channel expertise – as well as important Zlago resources, such as deep relationships in the channel community. With Oak Hill’s resources behind Intermedia, we intend to build the leading provider of cloud services.”
Zlago is based in Washington, DC with channel partners and customers throughout North America. Named one of the “100 Coolest Cloud Companies” by CRN, Zlago operates services from four secure datacenters in the US and UK. The company is known for innovative vertical market offers, such as its “Doctors Office in the Cloud” bundle, and solutions for the legal, financial services, and other key vertical markets.
“Intermedia’s products and channel programs are widely viewed as best in class,” says Michael Gold, president, Intermedia. “I am pleased to bring their superior 24x7 support, complimentary migration to the cloud, innovative technology, and always-on operations to Zlago’s partners. My focus at Intermedia will be on continuing to improve that industry-leading experience and extending it to an even broader set of cloud services. We have a great tradition to build on given Intermedia’s track record delivering enterprise-grade hosted Exchange – and recent additions such as hosted PBX, email encryption, and backup.”
Robert Morse, a partner at Oak Hill Capital, adds, “Cloud services are poised for mass adoption, with their cost and productivity benefits far outpacing those available from traditional on-premise computing. The Zlago acquisition and addition of Michael Gold to the management team will help Intermedia continue to accelerate this shift to the cloud. We look forward to working with Phil Koen, Michael Gold, and the rest of the Intermedia management team.”
Service delivery to Zlago’s customers and nationwide network of channel partners will continue uninterrupted. According to Steve Harper, president/CEO of managed service provider NMGI, “Having been in business over 25 years as a VAR and managed service provider, we’ve built solutions and resold software from dozens of vendor providers. As one of those providers, Zlago has set itself apart by doing many things very well, with two items in particular that really stand out. First, they simplify the delivery of a variety of cloud services to our small and mid-size customers. And second, they have positioned and empowered NMGI as a reseller to build real, significant, and sustainable pieces of new business. We signed on as Zlago’s first partner because of their vision, drive, passion, and commitment. We are excited to see that Intermedia’s approach to the reseller community is similar. Our relationship will continue to grow with Intermedia.”
Gold brings over 15 years of senior management experience in cloud services and channel development to Intermedia. Prior to Zlago, he was CEO of Sphera, a cloud services software company that he sold to cloud automation provider Parallels, where he served as a senior vice president. Gold has held a variety of other executive roles in the industry, including CEO of software company Vicorp and senior vice president of Qwest Communications (now CenturyLink) (NYSE: CTL), where he had P&L responsibility for the Internet Products business and launched Qwest’s CyberCenter datacenter and hosting business. Long dedicated to the channel community that supports small and mid-size businesses, Gold was named one of the 25 most innovative executives by CRN and Everything Channel in 2009 and 2010.