Xerox acquires ACS

On Monday, national business pages were alive with the news that Xerox had acquired Affiliated Computer Systems of Dallas, Texas for $6.4 billion dollars. This news is significant for users of registries of deeds in Massachusetts because ACS provides the land records management software for this and many of the other registries in the Commonwealth.

Back in 2002, ACS was selected after a lengthy competition to be the primary computer system provided for registries of deeds in Massachusetts. Middlesex North was the first registry to install the system (activated on July 1, 2002). The ACS system is now used in twelve Massachusetts registries: Berkshire North, Berkshire Middle, Berkshire South, Franklin, Hampshire, Worcester, Middlesex North, Middlesex South and Suffolk (all state registries) plus Bristol Fall River, Nantucket and Dukes (county registries). I understand the Plymouth is also in the process of installing ACS. (For those wondering, the registries in Worcester North, Hampden, Essex North, Norfolk and Barnstable all use the Browntech system while Bristol New Bedford, Bristol Taunton and Essex South all use home-grown systems).

ACS is a huge company with 74,000 employees so registries of deeds are only a very small part of their business. Still, it will be interesting to see what impact the Xerox takeover will have on our relationship with ACS.