Local firms grow big on technology.

• Position: Outsourcing

From global companies with thousands of computers around the world to small businesses with a handful of desktop stations, businesses are increasingly turning to Colorado entrepreneurs to manage their technology services and other operations outside their own walls. Call it outsourcing, managed services or network support--the trend not only saves companies money but enables them to keep up with technology's newest offerings and to operate secure systems without employing a high-tech staff of dozens.

"It's analogous to changing the oil in your car. You can do it yourself but why would you when you can take your car to Grease Monkey and have those with expertise do it more efficiently," said Bart Hammond, chief executive officer of Denver-based Interlink Group Inc., one of the largest privately-owned IT consulting firms in the western United States. "In the case of IT services, a company may have a staff with the skills to do it, but they would rather have their staff devoting their time to other strategies within the company and leave the daily maintenance to others. We can pro-actively monitor their IT operations 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week and make recommendations to improve their operations around the world."

Hammond noted a company would have to employ a seven-member in-house IT team to cover the shifts and do the kind of system monitoring Interlink does round-the-clock from its command centers in Denver and Pune, India.

Founded in 1989 with a staff of three, Interlink has grown to more than 200 employees, delivering technology solutions to 300-plus clients--primarily upper mid-market companies with revenues of $200 million to $2 billion, said Hammond. Interlink's revenues grew 26 percent in 2004, the same year that Microsoft tapped the company to receive its prestigious Customer Relationship Management Excellence award.

In June 2004, Interlink acquired Equarius, adding offices in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. The company also has operations in Sacramento, Calif.

Aardvark IT Solutions, founded as Aardvark Computer Service Ltd. in Boulder in 1993, moved in 1999 to Broomfield to provide outsourced network support to growing businesses. "The trend today is for businesses to be very pro-active about their IT services in trying to prevent problems before they happen," said Wray Smith, founder and president of Aardvark, which also does business as Smartpoint.com. "For example, if a hard-drive were to begin filling up, a new virus...