CrestPoint Solutions Keeps Data Flowing

By Nicole Zaro Stahl, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Hacienda's CrestPoint Solutions starts the new year having earned a significant distinction and ready to expand into new target markets. In August 2008, Inc. magazine's online site, Inc.com, included CrestPoint Solutions in its annual list of the 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the country. With $15.3 million in 2007 revenue and a 277 percent growth rate, CrestPoint was ranked a very creditable 1373 out of the 5000, and number 38 in the top 100 telecommunications companies.

According to the Inc. website, "the list is the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy-America's independent-minded entrepreneurs." The entrepreneur behind CrestPoint is Fabomi Ojuola, a Nigeria-born engineer and information systems specialist who founded the company in 2000 to provide network engineering and other services to the telecommunications industry.

It takes a sophisticated skill set to operate in the closely regulated telecom space, where companies and their vendors are subject to rigorous best practices and exacting, "always-on" performance standards, Ojuola points out. CrestPoint's knowledge of this structured environment is partly the product of Ojuola's engineering and information systems degrees and experience working for Pacific Bell during the dot-com boom, along with the cumulative total of 200-plus years of facility design and management expertise of his colleagues. "Our telecom clients have developed some very stringent guidelines relating to issues like seismic protection, redundant electrical power, or service levels. We help them meet those requirements," he explains.

CrestPoint's proficiency is also directly transferable to mission-critical functions in unregulated business sectors, such as the corporate data center. "With our knowledge and experience servicing data centers run by very large corporations with recognizable names, now we are able to branch out to serve similar needs in other markets - whether medical facilities, financial institutions, or collocation enterprises," Ojuola says. "When we make a new business call, we bring a lot of additional value to the table."

One of the biggest issues in the data center arena right now is tracking and managing energy use. "This is actually one of our biggest areas of expertise," Ojuola continues, noting that CrestPoint has been working toward being able to manage its clients' entire infrastructure for several years. "We are on the cusp of acquiring the capability to do direct remote monitoring and complete building automation," ultimately making it possible to monitor a facility in Seattle from a desktop in New York. "You won't really have a need to examine the facility on site. You can see inside to interact with every piece of equipment remotely. When all systems are integrated, we will have completed the A to Z management of the entire infrastructure."

Despite the company's significant expertise in designing, building, and maintaining network infrastructure, Ojuola has a broader view of what he and his 100 employees do: "We don't see ourselves as a telecommunications engineering or installation company or a data service. We are a solutions company," he insists. "If we can help businesses make better decisions about facilitating the flow of information, putting it at their fingertips, we will have done our job."

For more information, visit www.crestpt.com.

Photo: CrestPoint's founder and CEO, Fabomi Ojuola, is expanding his company into new markets.

Also in this issue...