Why Buy Bear Data?

Datalink in October purchased Bear Data Solutions in an $18.5 million deal it said would help Datalink expand its West Coast operations and Cisco expertise.

Datalink expected to quadruple its West Coast business to over $200 million and add over 1,000 new midmarket and enterprise customers as a result of its acquisition of San Francisco-based Bear Data.

The acquisition is part of a move to get critical mass in a market where it had a limited reach, according to Datalink COO Shawn O'Grady. "We also want to build the West Coast to the same size as our central and eastern regions," O'Grady told CRN at the time . "As we talked to investors, we identified California as an investment target."