Evolve IP combines strong organic growth with strategic acquisition strategy in purchase of VoIP solutions provider
WAYNE, Pa. — June 2nd, 2008 — Evolve IP today announced it has acquired Lyrio IP Technology Solutions, a well-respected and successful Philadelphia-based provider of IP technology products and services for small-to-mid-sized businesses (SMBs). The cash and stock transaction further signifies Evolve IP’s plan to combine their strong organic growth with the active pursuit of targeted acquisitions and strategic partnerships.
Lyrio’s customer base, which consists of SMBs, school districts and government offices across the mid-Atlantic region, will now have access to Evolve IP’s complete suite of enterprise-class managed technology services, including Managed Telephony, Managed Network Services, Network Security & Compliance Services, and Hosted Applications.
“We look forward to integrating the experienced and knowledgeable staff of Lyrio into our team, and developing strong and valuable relationships with their customers,” said Thomas Gravina, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Evolve IP. “This acquisition is a reflection of our balanced growth strategy of strong organic growth and targeted, strategic acquisitions which add long-term value to our organization.”
Evolve IP will assume Lyrio’s position as a Mid-Atlantic reseller of ShoreTel products. The Company will also assume responsibility for all maintenance contracts, services, and support for ShoreTel, and will continue to market ShoreTel products. Lyrio co-founder Howard Hoffman, a 25-year telecom industry veteran who served as Executive Vice President of Sales, will join Evolve IP as a Senior Sales Executive. Prior to founding Lyrio in 2006, Hoffman served as Sales Director of Interchange Technologies, Inc., a voice and video systems integrator.
“This is a complementary acquisition for us,” said Guy Fardone, Chief Operating Officer of Evolve IP. “Both companies are focused on providing world-class IP services to small and mid-sized businesses. We are very pleased to add Lyrio’s customers, vendors and seasoned team of VoIP sales, field, and support professionals to Evolve IP.”
ABOUT EVOLVE IPEvolve IP is a Managed Technology Provider that has created a new way for businesses to purchase, manage, and secure the technologies they use to communicate. With a broad range of expertise and a suite of services that includes Managed Telephony, Managed Network Services, Network Security & Compliance Services, and Hosted Applications, Evolve IP can partner with businesses of all sizes to provide a complete solution to turn their vital communications technologies into a competitive advantage. Evolve IP enables today’s workforce to realize increased productivity through feature-rich service offerings and significantly improved security and stability achieved through geographically diverse Technology Centers and 24x7 professional management, all of which is delivered with greater simplification and a lower Total Cost of Ownership. More information about Evolve IP is available on the Web at http://www.EvolveIP.net.
At his school's awards ceremony, here are is what Matt was honored with:
Matt is very involved in athletics, as well. He played football in the Fall (see below pics), basketball int he winter, soccer in the Spring, and now is playing basketball in the summer. The school coach asked him to play AAU basketball, and he is also attending the76ers Basketball Camp, and took private lessons from The Shootist.
Kelly continues her excellence in school, finishing second grade with straight A's. Not only that, she is having a great time participating in ice skating, which she has done this Winter and Spring. Hopefully, we'll post some pics soon.
On Saturday, April 26, Karen tore her right Achilles Tendon while playing in a tennis match in one of her leagues. She was taken to the Bryn Mawr Hospital Emergency Room and splinted. On May 1, she had a surgical repair of the injury, which was a complete tear of the tendon. She is on crutches and in a "splint". On May 19, she will have her 15 stitches removed and be put into a full walking cast. She should be in the cast for several weeks and then in a "boot" for several more weeks. During this entire time, she cannot drive due to the injury being on her right leg.
She is in good spirits, and is back at work several days/week - working the remaining days from home. Thanks to all her friends and our family for the cards, flowers, and other thoughts and support.
I am teaching the following courses during 2008 at Penn State Great Valley:
| Spring 2 | March 11-April 24 | BUSAD 522.301 | New Ventures II |
| Summer 2 | June 24-Aug 7 | BUSAD 511.301 | New Ventures I |
| Fall 2 | October 21-December 9 | BUSAD 575.301 | High Tech Venture Development |
See "Teaching Activities" for some more detail about the courses.
The Home Page of ChuckThomas.net now features a scrolling selection box of "What's New". This will eventually replace the What's New selection box on the left side list of selections. Currently, this feature only works on Internet Explorer and equivalent browsers that support ASP. Other browsers will work as before. If you didn't see the box on the Home Page, your browser is not one that supports this.
This is a part of the migration of this website to being more data-driven. All of the What's New selections for the new scroll box are small data files that can be produced by any content-production tool. The link information is fed to a control file, which then feeds the scroll box.
If this note is too technical for your tastes, I apologize. The rest of this site is not dedicated to discussing how the site was created and/or managed. Please enjoy your trip through the site.
This website was established in April of 2000, and we began measurement of "unique visits" in January of 2003. Unique visits are individual sessions, starting when someone visits our site. It is measured by our ISP and is dynamically updated, operating as a "CGI" (a database lookup from our webpage). The site visit activity varies from time to time, and is generally more active when I am teaching a course or after I have given a talk to a large group.
It may be interesting to note that the Internet site measuring service, www.alexis.com, ranks ChuckThomas.net as the 7.7-millionth most visited site, which is 0.000002% of all website visits. Not too impressive, but it puts us in the top 6.4% of all websites. Who knew?
We gathered at Pete & Dorothy's home to celebrate the New Year together, and to enjoy each other's company once again. Click here to see photos of the event.
I am teaching New Ventures II again this Spring in the Spring 2 session at Penn State Great Valley. I generally teach New Ventures I in the Fall and New Ventures II in the Spring, and occassionally other courses (e.g., this Fall I taught High Tech Venture Development). New Ventures II is all about the early stages of the new venture, from inception through growth stages. It is oriented around Case Studies, many of which the students prepare and conduct.
I am very excited to teach this course, which is focuses on how high tech entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs design, develop, and market new information technology products (e.g., software) and services. The text we are using is Richard Dorf and Thomas Byers "Technolgy Ventures", published by McGraw Hill. The new version, published this year, extends the text used in many prestigous advanced business programs, such as the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. See more about my teaching at The Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies in my Teaching Interests page.
I am again teaching the New Ventures 1 course that I have taught since 2004, although I hope that the course continues to evolve and improve each time.
My mother passes peacefully on May 21, 2007. Click here to see more about her.
You can use the selection list to choose Chuck's Blog and participate in my new blog. I created the blog as a step in the process of starting my Commentary section (which is simply an outline up to now). I hope you can choose or create a category and let me (us) know what is on your mind. It might be fun! I look forward to hearing from you.
Karen and I were fortunate enough to have spent two weeks on the islands of Hawaii: almost a week each on Maui and Kaui, and three days on Oahu. We had a wonderful time throughout the entire trip. We stayed in a spectacular B&B on Maui; in a super resort on Kaui; and in a Waikiki Beach resort on Oahu. For those of you who dread travel, good news... our trip there and back were faultless, efficient, comfortable, and we got our First Class tickets for a grand total of $10 using Dividend Miles. To share the experience, click here or select "Personal Interests" and then "Travel".
Uncle John, my mother's brother, has been a role model for me and countless others. He has led an accomplished existence: Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas, then Dean, then Chancellor; President of the American Association of Chemical Engineers; author of the Encylopedia of Chemical Engineering; on the President's Energy Council for most of the Presidents for the last half of the twentieth century, and so on. The story of my grandfather's immigration to the US in 1904 begins his tale of his early life. It is a fascinating read, and you'll likely enjoy it. Click here to read his story of The Early Years, or navigate via the Family & Friends selection box on the left, and look through the link to my mother.
In July of 2006, Michael Cassady and Howard Hoffman formed Lyrio to provide a spectrum of IP telephony services to small and medium businesses. Howard was formerly a neighbor of mine, and as we discussed the new business it sparked my interest. I joined them as Executive Vice President - Strategy and Business Development, helping establish strategic directions, develop the business plan and work with potential investors. I also work with partners and affiliates, establish marketing programs and materials, and work with potential acquisitions. Lyrio has an aggressive strategy of building and acquiring the wherewithal to provide an integrated array of services, including:
The company is busy building a sales and marketing network network, has put in place and is continuing to grow its superb installation, support and service team, and is developing strong reseller relationships with the key hardward vendors in the industry. The company is already operating profitably, and its projected growth is impressive. I anticipate a very exciting next few years helping to continue the Lyrio story. Need a better phone system for your business? Need help with your networking (local and carrier services)? Need someone to manage your network and telephony? Need a better wireless service? Need to integrate your voice, data, and video? Give us a call at 1-888-LYRIOIP or drop me a note at chuckt@lyrio.com.
In addition to teaching at Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies, I am teaching at The Philadelphia Center. The Philadelphia Center is sponsored by a consortium of over 60 colleges and universities, whose chief sponsor is Hope College. The Center's program is like a "Junior Year Abroad" program, but for students who want to experience a major metropolitan area. They live and work co-op in center city Philadelphia, as well as take a class in their major and an elective. I am teaching the "Entrepreneurship" elective. You can learn more at The Philadelphia Center.
Karen and I went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to attend the wedding of my sister's daughter. This "destination wedding" was absolutely beautiful, packed with events, and full of family and interesting new friends. We had a great time. Check it out at my "Personal Interests - Travel" section.
Check out the new pictures of my grandkids Matt and Kelly (under the Family selection on the left), taken at the big family brunch to celebrate Matt's ninth birthday. Also included are Matt's and Kelly's 2006 school pictures, and a few other new photos.
Just prior to the end of the year we learned that Comcast executed a major reorganization, bringing in new outside senior management and realigning their business units to bring together video, data, and voice elements and to reduce the effect of "silos" within the business. TargetTV, my group, was "made redundant", as the British say. After a couple of weeks to work with our team to ensure everyone landed safely, I exited the company. I am now a free agent, without any significant contractual obligations to hamper my activities.
I am now working as an independent consultant providing professional services in strategic planning, innovation, intra/entrepreneurship, and turning changes in technology and our environment to business advantage. My focus is in the retail and entertainment/media/communications sectors. I am available to provide direction, leadership, and team-building, as well as to help organizations focus on change, and clarify new directions, create and implement strategic & tactical plans.
I am an agent of change, finding opportunity out of the chaos that radical and disruptive change introduces. I can help your organization adapt, adopt, flex, learn, embrace, and celebrate your new future.