SunGard Data Systems, the US-based technology services multinational, announced a plan to split off its Availability Services division, its managed services and IT consulting business, to operate as a stand-alone company with its own board of directors.

The availability services business operates a fleet of data centers and provides disaster recovery, managed hosting, colocation and cloud services, as well as software and consulting services. The other parts of SunGard provide services for the financial vertical, government agencies and the education sector.

Russ Fradin, SunGard president and CEO, said this was a strategic separation that would allow each of the two resulting companies to focus on its distinct business and pursue its own growth opportunities.

“While both businesses have been together as part of SunGard for a long time, they serve vastly different customer needs and have very different business profiles, with distinct capital requirements, sales forces and competitors,” he said. “This separation will bring greater clarity and alignment to each company’s mission.”

Both SunGard Availability Services and the remaining SunGard will continue to be owned by the consortium of private equity investment funds. The consortium includes Bain Capital Partners, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Silver Lake and TPG, among others.

The Availability Services segment's current CEO Andrew Stern will become CEO of the independent company, once it is separated. The management expects to complete the split-off at the end of the quarter.

“As an independent company with $1.4 billion in revenue, we will have the scale, services and focus to continue bringing unique solutions to our customers' availability challenges,” Stern said.