Just a quickie. Back in July I brain stormed the idea that Google might look at buying Iron Mountain.
This was my attempt at a left field prediction that no one else has made or would be likely to make... without it being a stupid prediction. At the time I listed a few reasons why, maybe, perhaps, it could happen. I talked about Iron Mountain's new data handling system but mainly this was a way for Google to get into the business of organising a whole lot (a mountain) of offline information.
Iron Mountain has just become the holder of some cracking 'online' information. I think this may make this "left field prediction" a little bit more likely. ICANN has appointed Iron Mountain as the data escrow holder of domain information. What does this mean? This means Iron Mountain looks after the details of who owns what domains. It is the third party who keeps the records should the main parties (such as registars) get into a mess, a fight, or some other distraction.
I know about data escrowing from my programming studies. If Company A hires Company B to develop some software - who holds the rights to functions, libraries, ideas or even the source code used in the software? Make sure that's in the agreement somewhere. It's not uncommon for Company A and Company B to agree an escrow solution for the code.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Has an Iron Mountainview become more attractive to Google?
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Iron Mountainview
I do enjoy a little M&A speculation myself. I think it's my turn to ponder on which big name Google might acquire next.
Iron Mountain is a company which backs up tapes and paper files for companies. Offices run out of storage eventually and the likes of lawyers firms are obliged to keep paper records for years on end.
Iron Mountain, of course, sees the need to broaden its services towards the digital end. Last month Iron Mountain bought Accutrac Software for an undisclosed sum of money.
Accutrac offers an electronic interface for offices wishing to browse though records in archive.
There are a lot of problems with this speculation, though. Google doesn't like buying companies like this - old, established, paper based. It would be a big buy. There's also a possible backlash if Google buys even more information.
I think this combination would appeal greatly to Google and their mission to index the world's information. Iron Mountain has a lot of information in its records.
Further more, Iron Mountain as relationships with offices all across the globe and would be a useful springboard if Google wished to introduce its own online software to these businesses.
