The information-technology business unit of Ikon Office Solutions, Inc. has a new owner.

The change in ownership meow a new location for the unit's Syracuse employees.

The unit, prevoously known as Ikon's Upstate New York Technology Services, has five locations; including the one in Syracuse. The unit, now a stand-alone company, changed its name to Vitec Solutions, LLC when Ikon spun off.

The new owner is Empire Investment Holdings, LLC, a private-investment firm focused on the acquisition and management of corporate divestitures. Ikon sold its upstate-technology business because the leadership decided to focus more on the firm's document-management and service business, according to the company.

Ikon (NYSE: IKN) is an international document-management company.

"They decided it wasn't part of their core constitution," says Daniel Dolan, president and CEO of Vitec. "They just decided it wasn't something they really wanted to focus on.

"We're looking at this as a stand-alone business we can grow on its own."

Dolan declined to disclose financial details of Vitec. The companies did not release terms of the purchase, but Dolan says it was an asset sale. The companies announced the sale in April.

The change in ownership should not change much in terms of the company's day-to-day business, Dolan says.

"The only real difference is we're going to be more focused on this business," he says. "This was just a piece of business that didn't fit with Ikon. We can focus on this as its own entity now."

Vitec provides hardware and software services for its clients. That includes both installation of new computer systems and maintenance.

The company has employees working at client sites providing information-technology services full time throughout the Northeast, It also has a staff of engineers who design networks.

In addition to its Buffalo headquarters and Syracuse site, the company has offices in Albany, Rochester, and New York City.

It employs 120 people and has 650 clients. Customers include large and small, public and private firms, as well as government organizations and educational institutions.

As part of the change in ownership, the employees moved out of Ikon facilities in August. The company temporarily remained in its Ikon sites until new locations could be found.

The Syracuse site moved from the Ikon site on Round Pond Road in Syracuse to its own 8,000-square-foot office on Basile Rowe in East Syracuse. About 35 Vitec employees are based in Syracuse.

In addition to growing the company's existing customer base in the Northeast, the plan is to expand its work into other markets, According to Vitec.

Empire named Dolan president and CEO in June. He began his career at Ernst & Whinney and has more than 20 years of executive-level experience in general management, operations, and finance.

Copyright Central New York Business Journal Sep 02, 2005 Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved