OUR STORY
From Modest Beginnings . . .
While working for Key Bank in 1992, Dan Pickett III saw an opportunity to provide technology services to the bank, and convinced his father (Big Dan) and brother (John) to start a company. D&R Management – named for the kids' parents, Dan and Rose Marie – was created. This single opportunity resulted in a company that even today remains focused on the same core business idea, and after almost 20 years of experience and innovation, has expanded to provide additional services.
Deploying computer equipment and cabling Key Bank's branches seemed to be a pretty simple job: arrive at the bank, bring some computers and cables, and get ready to sweat. A young John Pickett, fresh out of college and ready to work, spent years all over the country satisfying our only customer's needs and running the day-to-day operations of the company, while Big Dan was back at the office overseeing the books. During this time, D&R Management was operating out of the basement of a liquor store; the loading dock was an old Bilko door, and the warehouse was a cellar with low ceilings and a few pallets on the ground. When you think about it, we typified the perfect startup company – lean and ambitious. Google started in a garage, and we one-upped them and started in a liquor store!
Our First World Headquarters
Hey, Someone Noticed Us...
As the value proposition of our business gained recognition, we attracted the attention of other potential customers, the most important being a not-so-little computer company called IBM. IBM's recipe for success with D&R was quite simple: combine its industry experience and project management skills with D&R's flexible, high-quality, low-cost services that exceeded customers' expectations. A really good recipe is reused often, and today, 17+ years later, we're still following it.
Who knew that waking up early on a Saturday morning to install computers with 10 friends would pay off so handsomely for D&R? The guys worked at a rampant pace to fulfill the company's commitments to customers and surprised everyone by the amount of work they could do in just one morning. Their only motivation was to get done early so they could enjoy lunch and a few beers together. How's that for fringe benefits?! Our secret combination of smart management and personable employees, who knew a lot more about keeping commitments and delighting customers at the time than they did about computers, seemed to be working quite well.
State-of-the-Art?
After a couple years of working together with IBM to nurture a rapidly growing business with Key Bank, New York State and some other customers, D&R was ready for a new facility. Additional storage and the ability to image machines became a reality with the 1996 "move" – the new facility was approximately 500 feet from our first world headquarters. The warehouse was the home of D&R's new "state-of-the-art" configuration center. The center consisted of two folding tables, and the loading dock actually made it more difficult to load pallets onto a truck than to install the machines.
Our Second World Headquarters
From this facility, D&R became a well known name in state and local government, the "go-to" technology deployment arm for dozens of state agencies. In order to sustain this growth, we bought a few vans and occasionally rented a truck for larger deployments. By now, D&R was a legitimate player in the technology deployment industry and hired a few full time employees, who frequently took inventory over the course of several days with just a notepad and pen.
Throughout this period of growth, the corporate culture of hard work, loyalty and fun really took hold and became more focused. New opportunities helped employees see a future in D&R, and D&R did not let anyone down. It was very clear that the familiar adage "the reward for good work is more work" was right on target. The business was off and running.
A New Name...
In 2000, driven by the dot.com boom and the climate of "e-business", D&R was renamed. The new name, e.nfrastructure, symbolized D&R's core competency of providing computer infrastructure services to facilitate e-business. e.nfrastructure relocated to a third building, this time a whole quarter of a mile away. The building had three offices and four cubicles, and a real loading dock and configuration center.
Our Third World Headquarters
As e.nfrastructure continued to acquire more and more business, we expanded our offerings to include systems and network design services, and maintenance and support services. We also expanded from the technology, financial and government sectors into retail and healthcare. As one would expect, with the new lines of business came more responsibility for both employees and management. Something big was going on at e.nfrastructure and everyone realized that the opportunities for growth were endless. From 2000 to 2004, e.nfrastructure built up its workforce and fleet of trucks and equipment, setting itself up for the next step . . .today.
Another Name Change...
Today we are nfrastructure and we have moved our headquarters to a truly state-of-the-art, 30,000 sq. foot facility that is home to a world-class help desk and network and security operations center. We also have a sister facility in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada to handle western US projects. At present, we have more than 150 full-time employees and 400 part-time staff who are responsible for deploying more than 350,000 devices annually and supporting more than 150,000 users across North America.
We are a close-knit, entrepreneurial team with customers in the public sector, financial services, retail, healthcare, technology, communications, public safety and energy markets. Guided by our vision, we work to our mission and strive to remain true to our core values.
Although times are changing and the goals of nfrastructure are different today than they were 17 years ago, we always remember the values that this company was built on: hard work . . . loyalty . . . and fun. Nobody can be certain of what we will be called or where we will be located in the next 20 years, but it is certain that we will make the most of all opportunities that come our way and that we will never be out worked or out classed.
Our Current World Headquarters
Our Network Operations Center