(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Web hosting provider Alentus (www.alentus.com) announced on Thursday it has acquired Chicago-based Internet service provider Route Sense (www.routesense.us) in an all-stock transaction for an undisclosed value.

This is the first major acquisition the web host has announced since last April, when it acquired Linux-based Web hosting providers Website Source and SpeedFox.

Alentus says that Route Sense's operations are "rapidly being incorporated to the Alentus management structure."

Since its inception in January 2008, Route Sense has provided a range of IT infrastructure services including data center space, bandwidth, and wide area networking services.

The company says it has also seen significant success in regional metro Ethernet products for small and mid-sized businesses as well as managed wide area networking.

As a result of the acquisition, Alentus will see immediate benefits in gaining access to bandwidth and data center space, as well as Route Sense's products and services.

"Route Sense brings a new category of revenue sources that will complement Alentus' overall strategy of income diversity," says William King, CEO of Alentus. "We are excited at the ability to add new products that will complement our existing services and provide an end-to-end solution for our clients."

Owned by hosting equity firm EnActen, Alentus is based in Aliso Viejo, California, with data center and NOC facilities in Edmonton, Canada, Columbus, Austin, and London.

The company provides a range of hosting services, including Windows, Linux, SharePoint, SQL and mySQL hosting, Exchange hosting, virtual private servers, and dedicated server services.