Congrats Pantek and Metisentry! Proud to be part of the new team. Staying on as CTO. http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170113/NEWS/170119875/pantek-metisentry-merge-to-build-on-open-source-it-expertise

Two local IT services firm that specialize in open source technologies have merged. Pantek of Independence and Metisentry of Akron became one company on Jan. 1.

Combined, they now have 21 employees. Metisentry founder Marling Engle will remain on as president. Pantek CEO Mike Fischer and Pantek chief technology officer Richard Zack will continue serving in those roles.

The deal made sense for Pantek because its clients want to work with a firm that has “high-end knowledge related to the full IT stack regarding software, data center, and integration, and combining with Metisentry definitely allows us to have even more capabilities,” Fischer said in a news release announcing the deal.

In the release, Engle stated that Metisentry “is known for full stack development, and being accountable for the entire system.” The deal gives Metisentry “a significant increase of expertise” related to the Linux open source operating system and technologies related to hosting and virtualization, he noted. The merger will “serve as a catalyst for growth in the years to come,” he added.

Pantek has been in expansion mode ever since Fischer and a few other local entrepreneurs bought the company in 2015. Pantek acquired a small out-of-state IT services company called Pencilneck Software in mid 2016, and in October it bought a set of customers from Boston-based Bridgeline Digital (which previously acquired a local company founded by one of the entrepreneurs who bought Pantek).

Likewise, Metisentry acquired a Florida company called EPolk over the past year, Fischer told Crain’s.