ST. PETERSBURG, Florida and NASHUA, New Hampshire, May 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --VFO', the world's leading assistive technology provider for the visually impaired, and home of the Freedom Scientific®, Optelec, and Ai Squared brands, today announced it has acquired The Paciello Group (TPG), a marquee software accessibility firm providing website and application compliance solutions to enterprises throughout the world. This acquisition advances both companies' strategy to offer the most innovative end-to-end enterprise compliance and employee accommodation solutions for people with disabilities, including the visually impaired.
"The accessibility market is growing rapidly, with enterprises around the world investing in compliance solutions, which allow persons with disabilities the same access to the web and applications as their peers," said Tom Tiernan, President and CEO of VFO. "Combining The Paciello Group with VFO's Enterprise Services business advances our position into the top tier of the web accessibility market."
"We will be able to better serve our clients in their corporate accessibility maturity continuum," said Mike Paciello, CEO and Founder of The Paciello Group. "I view this as a game changing move that immediately establishes VFO as the industry leader - a first in the disability and technology ecosystem. Perhaps more importantly, to all of us at TPG, it strengthens our world-wide reputation as visionaries and champions of accessibility to all people with disabilities."
"With The Paciello Group joining VFO, we can now offer enterprises end-to-end solutions, from up-front strategic consulting, accessibility auditing, usability testing, remediation and training, all the way through to seamless integration with our enterprise-class JAWS® screen reading and ZoomText® screen magnification software solutions," said Matt Ater, Vice President of VFO's Enterprise Services business.
"The coming together of The Paciello Group and VFO makes great strategic sense," said Bill Donoghue, CEO and Chairman, Skillsoft. "This will help us develop a complete solution for our customers with the premier accessibility solutions provider and the primary provider in the AT arena."
About VFO
VFO is a leading global accessibility solutions provider. The VFO brands, Freedom Scientific, Optelec, and Ai Squared, have a long history of developing and providing innovative assistive technology solutions. VFO has offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom, and is available through multi-tier distribution in more than 70 countries worldwide.
About The Paciello Group
The Paciello Group is passionately dedicated to helping government agencies, technology vendors, e-commerce corporations, and educational institutions make their technology equally accessible to all people, including those with disabilities. The company offers professional consulting, technology solutions, and services to ensure that clients reach all audiences effectively and efficiently while meeting commercial, governmental and international standards such as Section 508 and WCAG.
Media Contacts
Matt Ater, VFO
877-775-9474
mater@vfogroup.com
www.vfogroup.com
Mike Paciello, TPG
603-882-4122
mpaciello@paciellogroup.com
www.paciellogroup.com
