What does the economy and a cloud have in common? Both have propelled Breinigsville-based Infradapt to a top spot in the information technology world after only five years in business.
The story started in December of 2005, when two independent contractors were setting up IT systems at a newly-constructed bank outside of Philadelphia.
Corey McFadden, the enterprising 25-year-old owner of McFadden Associates, was setting up the bank’s phone system.
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Antonio Haddad, head of LAN Xperts, was setting up the network and firewalls.
As the two began to chat on the job, they discovered synergies in their areas of expertise.
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“We realized we could do more together than separately,” said McFadden. But they couldn’t do anything alone. “We needed a powerhouse guy to sell what we do,” McFadden said.
That’s where John Reilly came in. He and Haddad had worked together previously, and so Reilly was brought into the new company.
In July 2006, Infradapt, the adaptive infrastructure company, was born.
It’s a combination of the men’s areas of expertise, and frees their clients of having to take care of things like upgrading phone and computer systems on their own, worrying about whether their data security system is up-to par, and dealing with server glitches.
The business started in a basement of Reagle Insurance in Easton – a client in the beginning and still today. But then, as the economy turned sour and so many businesses were struggling for survival, Infradapt grew.
Businesses that had in the past simply rubberstamped service contracts with other providers started shopping around for better deals. And they learned about Infradapt.
The company gained major clients like Lockheed Martin, University of Pennsylvania, Porsche North America, and more.
“Bringing on a big name client is always exciting,” said McFadden, “but we really do value every one of our customers.” He added that Hofstra University was his first major client. At the time unfamiliar with the Long Island school, he was skeptical and asked if they were an accredited university. “Whoops!” he said, but added in his defense, “this was well before they hosted the last presidential debate!”
The company’s rapid growth meant their basement office was soon bursting at the seams. So in 2010 they moved into their current office on Trexlertown Road (formerly Route 100) in Breinigsville. “Moving out here was a better way to serve our customers,” explained McFadden. “We’re closer to the turnpike and less bottlenecked by Route 22.”
Now, employing 15 people, the company is seeing another surge in growth. That’s where the cloud comes in. More and more frequently, business are turning to cloud-based computing – servers and data storage methods that reside in cyberspace or, “on the cloud.” (Or, rather, on mega-servers around that world that lease space to internet providers and IT companies and such. But that’s semantics.)
McFadden said many of the large companies, like Apple and Microsoft, who are responsible for making people aware of “The Cloud,” have also confused people. However, that confusion, he said, has led to interest in learning what it’s all about.
McFadden expects the trend to continue, and the company is positioned to evolve with the market. The forecast for the next five years? Continued "cloud”iness.