Ann Arbor-based Online Technologies recently sold its Web hosting business, concluding a years-long divestiture of its non-core functions that will enable the company to focus exclusively on its data center clients.

"Financially it's not a significant move for us, but it's significant because it's the last vestiges of some of the original components of this business," Online Tech CEO Yan Ness said.

The 15-year-old company in July completed the sale of its Web hosting arm to Clarkston-based IGD Solutions, one of its existing data customers.

Financial details of the transaction were not released, but the sale involved the transition of hundreds of Web hosting clients and a few servers, Ness said.

IGD President Steve Hyder said in a news release that the transaction "came together as a true partnership as we learned how well Online Tech's Web hosting customers were matched to our existing customer base."

The move comes as 15-year-old Online Tech has been gradually shifting its focus in recent years toward data center services. The company has unloaded its dial-up Web clients and its Web development customers.

Until the IGD sale, the company had been hosting Web servers for a variety of clients, ironically including some Web hosting companies.

"We weren't aggressively investing in it, because we knew it wasn't core to us," Ness said. But "in a way we were competing with them."

Online Tech's data center services are gaining traction as many companies choose to outsource their data management. Ness said that second-quarter revenues topped the company’s expectation by 25 percent, and the “third quarter is looking really, really strong.”

The company is likely to launch a hunt for potential acquisitions as its growth continues.

“You’ll see us do more deals, more on the buy side over the next year or two. We hope to juice the growth,” Ness said.

Allan Afuah, an associate professor of corporate strategy at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, said companies are beginning to grasp the importance of backing up their data.

“If you really value your data, you ought to really be” backing it up, Afuah said.

Nathan Bomey writes about technology and other topics for Ann Arbor Business Review. Contact him at (734) 302-1725 or nathanb@mbusinessreview.com.

Photo by Robert Ramey: Online Tech CEO Yan Ness