Insight Enterprises, the very big US reseller, is to buy its smaller rival Software Spectrum for $287m.

The surprise here is just how long the owner, web backbone provider Level 3, held on to its subsidiary. In 2002, Level 3 bought Software Spectrum and Corporate Software, one of the first big resellers, and merged them into each other.

At the time it spouted a lot of nonsense about convergence, although we wondered what broadband and software distribution had in common. Conveniently, the purchase bulked up Level 3 sales and enabled it to avoid breaking banking covenants.

So we guess that this divestment marks the official divergence of communications and flogging commodity software to corporates.

Press release here. ®

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• Former Insight veep Akkerman rocks up at Rackspace (22 August 2011)
• Insight blames public sector for sales dip (5 August 2011)
• Huge write-off takes Insight Enterprises into loss (12 August 2008)
• Insight profit down nearly half in Q3 (2 November 2007)
• Insight opens China front (12 October 2006)
• Insight pays DoJ to end investigation (29 March 2006)
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• Insight exits PlusNet, raises £15.8m (14 December 2004)
• S&P slams Level 3 acquisition plans (8 August 2002)
• Level 3 buys Software Spectrum (3 May 2002)