Apollo Global already owns Presidio. And the private equity firm is now buying Rackspace (NYSE: RAX). Does that mean Presidio and Rackspace will somehow blend their respective cloud and managed services businesses to create a single company? The short answer is: Nope.
"There are certainly some services we’d partner on, and it may be easier to do that now, but there is really no connection between the two businesses," Presidio CEO Bob Cagnazzi tells ChannelE2E.
Apollo announced plans to buy Rackspace for $4.3 billion this morning. The deal, pending regulatory approval, is expected to close in Q4. On the flip side, rumor has it Apollo has been testing the IPO waters with Presidio -- which could involve a $2 billion public offering, some reports have suggested.
Similar Terms, Vastly Different Companies
At first glance, Presidio and Rackspace can be lumped into similar markets using similar terms -- managed services, cloud services, etc. But take a closer look and you'll discover that the companies' backgrounds are vastly different.
Presidio is a fast-growth managed IT services provider and IT consulting firm that has extensive hybrid cloud expertise. The company's roots include deep expertise in the Cisco, EMC and VMware channel partner ecosystem. More recently, Presidio has acquired software development expertise to assist customers with their cloud, digital and IoT priorities.
Rackspace doesn't have that on-premises integration heritage. The company essentially is a hosting provider that pursued public cloud ambitions, only to change course and offer managed services for Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and other providers.
