The IT industry’s trend towards consolidation continued yesterday as USinternetworking Inc. (USi) announced that it has acquired Daniel IT Services Inc., a Madison, Ala.-based consulting firm focusing on WebSphere Commerce suite implementation.

USi, an application service provider which was itself bought by AT&T last year, says the acquisition will allow it to complement its hosting with front-end consulting.

“Our service model has always been to create an outstanding managed service capability, and really through that capability and provide clients the ability to maximize their purchase of that application,” said Curtis Hampshire, USi’s general manager of eBusiness. “In terms of WebSphere [Commerce] knowledge, our clients have wanted us to have deeper knowledge with the application.”

Daniel IT will help complement USi’s services, the interesting point may be that the move is further evidence that the IT industry is consolidating, said Gartner vice president of research Michele Cantara.

“It certainly gives them a lot of feet on the street — or more feet on the street — when there’s really a talent shortage” in the industry, she said.