Once Berkshire Partners' move to acquire Masergy is complete, the industry should see more rapid growth of that managed service provider's market reach, including possible acquisitions, and faster new technology development as well, says Masergy's Chairman and CEO Chris MacFarland. (See Berkshire Partners Buys Masergy.)

The company announced Monday that the Boston-based investment firm is acquiring the majority stake in Masergy from another private equity firm, ABRY Partners, and the deal is likely to close near year's end, he tells Light Reading. After that, look out.

Berkshire's expertise and experience in growing mid-market companies makes it a good match for where Masergy wants to go, MacFarland says. By capitalizing on its solid reputation with customers and its software-defined managed services technology platform, Masergy expects to increase its volume of business substantially in the coming year.

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"We firmly believe that the market opportunity for our solutions is greater than what we touch so I think you'll see us accelerate both our organic distribution, which means we'll grow our sales force faster than we have historically, and also look for us in the inorganic space as well, to see if there are companies that make a great fit inside of Masergy over the next several years," he comments.

With a new investor on board, Masergy will be making more aggressive investments internally as well in developing the new technologies for its managed services platform, MacFarland says.

"I think the fact we have a new investor as part of the business means there is a little bit of longer view as we will be able to take on investments in our R&D," MacFarland says. "You will see us invest even a little bit heavier than we have been historically."

Masergy was early to deploy virtual CPE as a means of connecting global customers' end points more efficiently and with greater flexibility, and has added SD-WANs to its portfolio as well. The company will continue to innovate, its CEO promises, and to focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience, one that has allowed Masergy to establish a 2016 Net Promoter Score of 70. (See Masergy Promises Differentiated SD-WAN and CenturyLink, Masergy Roll Real-World NFV.)

— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading