‘We’re looking for more organizations that are in alignment, from a telco perspective, with us to where we can take our MSP practice that we feel is matured and bring it to them. [Lantana] has a managed service practice today they’re just very early in it,’ says Shawn Torres, CEO of In-Telecom.

In-Telecom has acquired enterprise telecommunications company Lantana Communications, creating an MSP generating more than $35 million in sales with about 135 employees company-wide.

Shawn Torres (pictured), CEO of Slidell, La.-based In-Telecom, said Lantana Communications was purchased for $5 million and has 40 employees coming over in the deal. The acquisition, announced iwill enhance In-Telecom’s capabilities and expand its enterprise client portfolio to Fortune 500 companies, major retailers and financial services firms.

“We’re taking a different approach in our acquisition strategy to where we are not looking to target MSPs where I have to go teach them a new way of practicing business,” Torres told CRN in an exclusive interview. “We’re looking for more organizations that are in alignment, from a telco perspective, with us to where we can take our MSP practice that we feel is matured and bring it to them. [Lantana] has a managed service practice today they’re just very early in it.”

Bringing on Lantana increases the number of engineers on the back end to support those enterprise customers, he added.

Lantana Communications has more than 34 years of experience and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

“In-Telecom was a solid fit for Lantana Communications because we share the same values.

We understand our customers business and deliver solutions to make IT solutions a benefit, not a flaw,” Edward Koehler, VP and general manager of Lantana Communications, told CRN in an email.”

He said In-Telecom brings the resources, solutions and products to Lantana Communications clients that it hasn’t been able to offer such as access control and video surveillance.

“In addition to the technical solutions, In-Telecom also brings passionate ownership to the table,” he said. “Their leadership meets with clients and understands the intricacies of managing network and security issues. IT issues and solutions will be part of running any business these days. In-Telecom will let us solve more issues for our clients…it’s that simple.

The acquisition will now offer a higher-level contact center, “which we didn’t have the best expertise in,” Torres said. “The enterprise local contact center we’re going to add to this is huge, as well as some really good carrier-grade engineers for our existing client base.”

Going forward Torres’ M&A approach is similar to that of the Lantana acquisition, buying MSPs and building up their skillset. He said he is currently looking at two other MSP in the South to acquire.

“We want to go acquire more of these types of companies and integrate them into our MSP,” he said. “I’m going in and bringing the MSP practice to their existing business and really enhancing what they already do.”

In-Telecom focuses on managed services, telecommunications and security, but the focus is on the MSP.

“I do still believe that voice is a commodity, but what’s really been scaling is the demand for IT services,” he said. “That’s our main focus and really where we’re selling.”