ANEXIO: Transforming the Managed IT Industry by Building Mission Critical Infrastructure

It’s a Hybrid world today, where the terms clouds, services, platforms, infrastructure, etc carry completely different meanings! Cloud computing has, in reality, reshaped how a business operates. Moreover, Managed IT services have radically changed global organizations. Today, there are many companies that offer services like Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), and so on. Each of these is contributing immensely to the growth of an organization.

For instance, IaaS offers cloud computing services where both the software and hardware used are virtualized. In fact, Infrastructure-as-a-Service provides a very strong foundation and plays a paramount role for many enterprises. Apart from cost savings and faster time to market, IaaS also brings in scalability and flexibility with a prime focus on business growth.

Founded in 1996, ANEXIO offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service solutions that are designed for customers seeking a smooth transition from legacy IT environments to a more efficient Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure. And ever since then, ANEXIO is transforming the Managed IT industry by building mission-critical infrastructure to serve the complex computing needs of the world’s most innovative companies. ANEXIO provides mission-critical infrastructure across eight Tier III SOC-2 certified data centers, an IT solutions center, and a nationwide IP Network.

Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, ANEXIO offers its products and services worldwide through a network of direct sales and partnerships. The company is immensely proud to be listed on the Inc. 500 as one of America’s fastest-growing, privately held companies. “The first thing you need to know about ANEXIO is that we live to serve our customers,” says Tony Pompliano, the President and CEO of ANEXIO.

“Customer satisfaction fuels everything we do and it is the reason for our rapid growth.”

Let’s learn about ANEXIO in a conversation with Tony Pompliano, President and CEO

Give us a roadmap of your company’s journey from its inception till date.

The ANEXIO origin story is the result of me looking at various ways to better serve the mid-market customer. About five years ago I saw the technology transformation that was occurring as companies were moving from customer premise-based solutions to one where the technology was going to be deployed either in a data center or via a cloud solution. I saw an opportunity to acquire several regionally-focused Managed IT firms, and consolidate them to create some scale, both in terms of the size of the company and in the size of the service portfolio.

These days, ANEXIO operates eight Tier III SOC-2 certified data centers, we have a brand-new IP network that connects those data centers and we have certified experts that can help monitor, manage and maintain your desktop to data center IT environment anywhere in the world. We’ve built a firm that is attractive to not only the mid-market enterprise space, but also small businesses to large enterprises worldwide.

Tell us about your company vision.

ANEXIO is driven to be the leading provider of mission-critical infrastructure in the blockchain economy, offering a complete “Desktop to Data Center” Managed IT product portfolio to mid-market customers.

Give us a brief overview of the products and services offered by your company.

Mission critical infrastructure is at the core of all ANEXIO service offerings. ANEXIO creates product bundles by integrating our infrastructure with leading edge technologies. These integrated product bundles are purchased by mid-market and enterprise customers. ANEXIO currently offers six desktops to data center product bundles.

What was the driving factors that motivated you to start the company?

Two jobs early in my career gave me the motivation and helped define the business leader that I am today. I began my career in the telecommunications industry in the early 1980s. I was very fortunate to work at a new company called MCI during the initial stages of long-distance telecom competition. MCI was competing against ATT, the incumbent telecom leader. I stayed with MCI for 20 years and worked in a variety of positions, including sales, operations, and engineering. Here, I learned a lot about business management and technology management, but most importantly I learned a lot about how to compete and how to win.

The bottom line is that I learned that you win when you serve your customers better than the competition and that you must be scrappy when it comes to growing market share. I left MCI and joined ATT and ran their managed services division which at the time was a $400M business unit. The ATT position opened my eyes to the growing opportunity that the Managed IT Services business represented. Both of those jobs taught me how to become the high-growth, customer-focused business leader that I am today.

As a company with more than two decades of service, what are the factors that differentiate your company from other competitors in the market?

At ANEXIO, we believe that when you take care of the customer everything else falls in line after that. We constantly listen to our customers and provide them with the products and services that they are asking for. The second thing that sets ANEXIO apart is that we have great people who are all committed to helping our customers make the smoothest transition possible from their legacy IT environment to a Hybrid Cloud infrastructure.

To achieve this, we have invested in first-class data center facilities, an IT solutions center, and a nationwide IP network. In the ever-changing world of technology, you must always be looking ahead and anticipating what the customer will want in the future. At ANEXIO, we go the extra step to leverage our assets and differentiate the offerings in a way that creates value beyond what may be generally available in the marketplace.

What type of revenue model have you implemented in your company?

What we look at primarily is the recurring revenue model. Recurring revenue in this business is very important because it is generally contracted with a term typically three to five years in length with revenue counted monthly. Our recurring revenue contracts run the gamut from mission-critical infrastructure to high-speed networking to Managed IT services. ANEXIO’s revenues have grown over 1,400 percent since 2013.

Tell us about some of your biggest clients. Also, in which vertical/s do you see the most traction in?

ANEXIO is focused on the mid-market enterprise space. These firms are sophisticated technology users. They typically have a CIO and/or a CTO and they use technology not only to keep the lights on, but also to generate revenue and service their own customers.

Most of our customers are in three verticals: The Digital Economy, Enterprise Organizations or IT Services. They are firms that are large enough and sophisticated enough to be able to do business with the likes of IBM, HP or Dell and choose ANEXIO instead. We thought that there was an opportunity to serve that market by being very efficient, being very customer responsive and by being thought leaders as it relates to IT transformation. ANEXIO leverages decades of proven IT experience, while providing flexible, cutting-edge services in the ever-changing IT Services world.

What is the roadmap ahead for ANEXIO?

ANEXIO is constantly rolling out new solutions for our customers. If I were to draw our solutions portfolio on a whiteboard there would be a network layer, a data center layer and a desktop layer. Inside each layer is a collection of products and services that help solve some of the industry’s most prevalent IT challenges. Wrapped around our solutions portfolio are ANEXIO’s proprietary customer support bundles with industry-leading operating procedures and US-based customer service that separate ANEXIO from the competition.

Let’s talk about the future. What’s next for your company?

ANEXIO sees more customer wins, more acquisitions and more momentum in our future. ANEXIO is just getting warmed up. We’re only in chapter one of our great story. Every day, we show up to work more determined to help customers make a smooth transition from their legacy IT environments to a more efficient Hybrid Cloud infrastructure. We are playing in a large and growing market and we will continue to listen to our customers and provide them with the mission-critical products and services they need. We have the right products, we have the right people and this is definitely the right time for ANEXIO.

Suite of Solutions

ANEXIO currently offers six desktops to data center product bundles. This includes:

• Managed IT Services (Email, VoIP, server virtualization, & help desk) 
• Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (Business continuity) 
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (Bundled hardware and software)
• Hybrid Cloud (On-premise, private & public)
• Cloud Backup & Storage (Enterprise-grade backup and recovery)
• Network Services (burstable or dedicated Internet and MPLS services up to 100 gigabits per second)

Meet the Star

Tony Pompliano is the President and CEO of ANEXIO, the leading “Desktop to Data Center” infrastructure-as-a-service company. Pompliano has more than three decades of experience as an executive in the IT industry and is an expert in cloud and data center technology management, mergers and acquisitions and ramping revenue growth at early stage companies. Tony has a proven track record of increasing revenue faster than industry rates, expanding EBITDA and growing market share for technology companies.

“We are playing in a large and growing market and we will continue to listen to our customers and provide them with the mission-critical products and services they need.”

“ANEXIO leverages decades of proven IT experience, while providing flexible, cutting-edge services in the ever-changing IT Services world.”