It seems the rationalisation of the local system integrator marketplace is continuing. The rumour mills are in full swing with whispers that global system integrator Datacraft is to acquire its Kiwi competitor Axon.

Since the merger of Gen-i, Computerland and Telecom Advanced Services in 2004, the system integrator business model has been under continuing pressure. This shakedown has seen plenty of merger and acquisition activity including MacLean Computing acquiring ATL Systems in 2004, DataCraft acquiring ATP in 2004, and in 2008 security-assessment.com amongst many others.

This isn’t the first time that a sale has been rumoured for Axon, which in the past has amounted to nothing. Axon’s spokesperson made it clear that Axon’s owners are regularly approached with these sort of discussions, that they were open to discussions, but that they had nothing to announce at this time.

Similarly a Datacraft spokesperson was approached to dispel rumours of an imminent deal. But tellingly the company declined our request, stating “at this point, we will not be able to comment”.