Accelon Capital Acquires United Layer update from December 2010

Calfornia colocation and managed hosting provider UnitedLayer has been acquired by private equity frm Accelon Capital, the company said today. Abhijit Phanse, Managing Partner at Accelon Capital, will take over as CEO of UnitedLayer. Phanse was previously the CEO and co-founder of Scintera, a Silicon Valley company that specialized in high-speed signal processors for networking infrastructure.

The deal is the latest in a series of acquisitions of data center and managed hosting firms by private equity firms. In earlier deals this year, Welsh Carson acquired Peak 10, Oak Hill Capital and GI Partners bought ViaWest, and GI Partners led a management buyout of SoftLayer.

"UnitedLayer has built a solid Internet hosting and customer service infrastructure and has gained a reputation of delivering exceptional colocation and managed hosting services," said Phanse."We are excited to invest in the UnitedLayer platform to enable our customers to meet their IT infrastructure needs and support their growth. I look forward to leading the company through our next phase of growth in this exciting space."

UnitedLayer has more than 30,000 square feet of data center space at 200 Paul Avenue, the San Francisco carrier hotel operated by Digital Realty Trust. The company also has a data center in Los Angeles.

"Accelon and its team's significant experience will enable us continue to be the fastest growing and highest quality data center company in San Francisco and Los Angeles," said Otto Grajeda, Director of Facilities and original co-founder of UnitedLayer. "The change in leadership comes at exactly the right time for us. Without missing a beat, UnitedLayer will be able to more quickly achieve its planned upgrades while maintaining the best quality of service and customer experience."

Phanse takes over from departing co-founder and former CEO Arman Khalili. "I couldn't be more pleased to be handing the reins over to such a talented individual as Abhijit Phanse," said Khalili. "We are excited about the opportunities ahead."

Accelon Capital is a private equity firm focused on investing in small to mid-market growth stage companies providing products and/or services in the Information Technology infrastructure, Software, and Healthcare sectors.