nfrastructure Story

From Modest Beginnings . . .

In 1992, while Dan Pickett was working for Key Bank, he saw an opportunity to start providing computer hardware infrastructure services to the bank. As a result, he convinced his father (Dan) and brother (John) to start a company.

Named after the kids' parents, Dan and Rose Marie, D+R Management was created. This single opportunity resulted in the same core business we are still in today (plus we do a few other things).

Deploying computer equipment and cabling Key Banks seemed to be a pretty simple task. All you had to do was arrive at a bank, bring some computers and cables, and be ready to sweat. A young John Pickett, fresh 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 operation. At this time, D+R Management was operated 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, the perfect startup conditions.

Our first worldwide headquarters.

Hey, Someone Noticed Us . . .

As the value proposition of the business grew, we started to attract the attention of other potential customers, including the New York State Government. Who knew that waking up early on a Saturday morning and installing computers with 10 friends would pay off for D+R? These guys worked at a rampant pace, surprising every customer by the amount of work they could do in just one morning.

At that time the only motivation for the workers was to get done early so they could enjoy lunch and cocktails with the others. How's that for fringe benefits! Yet our secret combination of smart management and personable employees who did not know much about computers seemed to be working quite well.

State-of-the-art?

After a couple years of working for New York State, D+R Management was ready for a new facility. Additional storage and the ability to image machines became a reality with the 1996 move. This new facility was approximately 500 feet from the liquor store. The warehouse was the home of D+R's new "state-of-the-art" configuration center. It consisted of two folding tables. And our loading dock made it harder to load pallets onto a truck than it was to install the machines.

Our first 'state-of-the-art' facility

D+R Management became a well known name in the state and local government deployment business. As a result, we started to provide services throughout the state. In order to sustain this growth, we needed to buy a few vans and occasionally rent a truck for larger deployments. Needless to say, D+R was now a legitimate player in this industry and hired a couple full time employees. One of the first was a baby-faced 15-year-old by the name of Tim Cuilla who took inventory with a notepad and pen for multiple days at a time.

Throughout this period of growth, the corporate culture started becoming more focused. New opportunities helped employees see a future in D+R, and D+R did not let anyone down.

A New Name . . .

In 2000, driven by the dot.com boom and the term e-Business, D+R Management was renamed. The new name, E.nfrastructure, symbolized D+R's core competency - providing computer infrastructure services to facilitate e-Business. At this point E.nfrastructure relocated to yet another building, this time a whole quarter of a mile away. This building consisted of about three offices and four cubicles, but actually had a real loading dock and configuration center.

Our third facility had a real configuration center

As E.nfrastructure continued to get more and more business, we expanded our offerings to include managed and professional services as well as into the retail industry. With the new lines of business came more responsibility for both employees and management. Something big going on at E.nfrastructure and everyone realized the opportunities for growth were endless. From the year 2000 until 2004, E.nfrastructure built up its workforce and fleet of trucks and equipment, setting itself up for the next step . . .Today.

A Better New Name . . .

Today we are nfrastructure, yet another change in name and another change in location. This time the facility actually is state-of-the-art, and yes, Timmy Cuilla is still in the warehouse.

As of 2006, we have more than 150 employees who are responsible for deploying more than 350,000 devices annually and supporting more than 150,000 users. We are a close-knit, entrepreneurial team with customers in the public sector, retail and financial services markets. We are guided by our vision, work to our mission and adhere to our core values.

Although times are changing and the goals of nfrastructure are different today than they were 13 years ago, we always remember the values that this company was built on: hard work . . . loyalty . . . and fun. Nobody is certain of where we will be or what we will be called in 5 years, but we can be certain of at least one thing: the opportunities will still be endless.