State invests in two Wallingford high-tech firms: NextCloud, Inc. and Discover Video

Connecticut Innovations, the state's high-tech investment arm, recently provided funding for two Wallingford high-tech start-ups. NextCloud, Inc., founded by Jonathan Reeves, is a 1-year old start-up that also received an additional $200,000 from angel investors. NextCloud provides cloud computing services for companies in the health care, government and education fields. NextCloud replaces the need for organizations to have their own computer server rooms and datacenters by providing an enterprise-class datacenter and IT infrastructure on a pay-as-you-go basis. NextCloud has 5 employees at its corporate headquarters in Wallingford and seven in Sacramento, Calif. In a recent interview with Reeves in the Hartford Business Journal, Reeves stated he decided to locate NextCloud in Wallingford because "Wallingford has economical power distribution and rich fiber optic connectivity which makes it a very suitable location for cloud computing." Reeves has a well-established track record with both Wallingford and technology business. Besides NextCloud, Reeves founded Sahara Networks in 1995, Sirocco Systems in 1999, and Mangrove Systems in 2002, all in Wallingford. In 2000, one of his start-ups sold for $2.9 billion. Discover Video, founded by Rick Mavrogeanes, also received $1 million from Connecticut Innovations to expand marketing of its new video streaming equipment and services. Discover Video targets broadcasters, schools, corporations and government entities for live and on-demand video webcasting. Discover Video also allows for live streaming of local public and government access television with video access also available on mobile devices. Its products include multimedia video encoders, decoders, transcoders and mobile broadcasting kits. Discover Video currently has 6 employees with plans to double this within the year. Mavrogeanes also founded three additional high-tech start-ups in Wallingford; Switched Network Technologies, AVIDIA, and, in 1997, VBrick Systems, Inc. VBrick, which is still located in Wallingford, is a highly successful video streaming technology company that services 6,000 corporate, education and government customers and employs 90 people. New Warehousing/Distribution in Wallingford Wesco Aircraft, one of the world's largest distributors of aerospace consumables, opened its East Coast distribution center at 1070 North Farms Rd. in Wallingford. Wesco is a public company founded in 1953 that, besides distribution, also provides comprehensive supply chain management services. Wesco has locations in 10 countries, including India and France, and employs 1,000 people worldwide. The Valencia, CA-based company was attracted to Wallingford because of its proximity to Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky. Wesco is expected to hire 10 people in its Wallingford facility. Also new to Wallingford is Allied Building Products, a South Windsor roofing supplier and sheet metal fabrication business, founded in 1950. Allied leased 86,036 s/f at 780 North Colony Rd. Allied is a family-operated business with 180 locations in the US that employ 3,000 workers. Other distribution facilities recently relocating into Wallingford are: Modern Formals - 3,500 s/f at North Plains Industrial Road and New England Safety Systems - 2,000 s/f at 121 North Plains Industrial Rd. Recent Commercial Expansions in Wallingford In October of 2010, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Connecticut announced plans to relocate its Connecticut headquarters into Wallingford and signed a 10-year lease with developer Workstage-Connecticut to occupy 217,764 s/f at 108 Leigus Rd., known as the Campus at Green Hill. In September of 2011, Anthem relocated 500 of its employees into 70,000 s/f at the Campus. This September, following the completion of tenant improvements, Anthem relocated an additional 1,000 employees into the remaining 147,000 s/f of leased area at the Campus. In addition to Anthem, Burns & McDonnell Engineering, based in Kansas City, MO, signed a 7.5 year lease for 27,635 s/f at the Campus at Green Hill. Burns & McDonnell is a full-service engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting firm that is owned by its 3,000 employees. The Campus at Green Hill is the company's New England regional headquarters. This summer, Burns & McDonnell announced plans to increase their footprint in the building and lease an additional 6,000 s/f of office space. Although there is approximately 35,000 s/f still available for lease at the Campus at Green Hill, there has been considerable interest from a number of potential tenants. Doreen DeSarro is the business recruiter for the Town of Wallingford EDC.