Tuesday, January 27, 2009

GlassHouse acquires CSSG

By Mass High Tech staff

GlassHouse Technologies Inc., a Framingham IT consulting firm, has bought CSSG, a Chicago security services consulting firm for an undisclosed amount.

A vendor-independent business, GlassHouse uses consulting and management services to help companies integrate virtualization technology. CSSG, which was founded by Robbie Higgins in 2008, develops the Converged Security Framework. The deal between the two companies will add data security assessments, optimization and policy framework to GlassHouse’s reach.

GlassHouse Technologies added a $9.8 million sixth round of funding last month, with investment support from Cisco Systems Inc. The company currently has about $64 million in total investment. In December 2007, GlassHouse registered for an initial public offering, when it acknowledged its hope of raising $100 million.

Before its IPO registration, GlassHouse spent $30 million in the course of one year, acquiring four companies: Chicago-based server virtualization consultancy RapidApp; London-based data center services company Data Center Moves International; and Israel-based companies MBI Advanced Computer Systems Ltd. and Integrity Systems Inc.