Santa Rosa County is Life by Design. At the heart of Life By Design is the belief that people – YOU – can work, live, play their/your way. Life and business aren’t spelled out. They aren’t scripted. Rather, they are waiting to be played out by you.

Santa Rosa County is a place marked by diversity where independent spirits thrive, business is made easy, and fertile ground awaits your impression. It is the place of entrepreneurs, farmers, scientists, and mechanics. It is where people invent, sail, serve, paint, work in flip-flops, and put on a flight suit. And, it just might be the place for YOU.

Here’s a glimpse of industry and business leaders who characterize, “Business. Redefined Here.” and who are experiencing “Life By Design” in Santa Rosa County. TEAM has worked with many, many industries on all fronts of economic development. Here are just a few of their stories:

AppRiver, LLC

Gulf Breeze-based AppRiver, poised for expansion by nearly 100 employees, was recently considering a headquarters move to Austin, Texas. TEAM Santa Rosa helped retain this local economic asset for Santa Rosa County by working with the County Commission, City of Gulf Breeze and the State of Florida to establish incentives for their retention and expansion as well as grants for training their employees.

“TEAM Santa Rosa helped us acquire state grants, which have not only had a positive impact on our company, but the local economy as well,” said Michael Murdoch, AppRiver CEO.

In 2002, AppRiver was launched by Michael Murdoch and Joel Smith. The company was started with the aim of providing uncomplicated yet dominant email and web security services to businesses of all sizes. The company provides security solutions like spam and virus protection, web protection and email encryption. One could say, “everything internet!” AppRiver prides itself on providing services that are second to none. Their spam and virus capture rates are just that, second to none, enabling them to offer easy, effective and affordable services to their clients.

Today, AppRiver is an award-winning company serving more than 35,000 clients world-wide with more than 100 employees and multiple secure state-of-the-art data centers in the United States and Europe. Appriver boasts an incredible 97% customer retention rate.

And it’s not just their customers that are happy. The company pays well above the County’s average wage and was recently rated by Florida Trend Magazine as one of the best companies to work for in Florida. This rating is obtained by anonymous employee surveys that rate the company’s working environment on all levels of satisfaction.

In the last year, the company has won nine awards garnering status from local and national assemblies in the IT field. To date, AppRiver has won more than 18 awards and has reached finalist status for an additional 3 in IT excellence over its short seven years in business. The company is growing by leaps and bounds and is one of the most successful companies in Santa Rosa County.

“AppRiver’s success in Santa Rosa County has been outstanding. They have continually grown their operation since starting up in 2002 and they are still going strong. TEAM Santa Rosa is always searching for more “AppRiver-like” companies to add to Santa Rosa’s industrial canvas,” said Cindy Anderson, P.E., TEAM Santa Rosa Executive Director.

AppRiver’s Impressive List of Awards and Nominations

• 2009 CSIA International Service Excellence Award Finalist
• 2009 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies (No. 16 in Security)
• 2009 Florida Trend Best Companies to Work for in Florida
• 2009 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of the Year®
• 2009 CRN Five-Star Partner Program
• 2009 CRN Emerging Security Technology Vendor
• 2009 TechJournal South Tech 50 Award
• 2009 Business Solutions Best Channel Vendor
• 2009 Network World Fave Raves
• 2009 Info Security Products Guide Global Product Excellence
• 2008 Rackspace Hosting Customer of the Year
• 2008 Network Products Guide Hot Company Finalist
• 2008 Red Herring Top 100 North America
• 2008 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies
• 2008 Host Review Top 10 SaaS Provider
• 2007 CRN Emerging Tech Dynamos
• 2007 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies (No. 61 in IT Services)
• 2007 Governor’s Business Diversification Entrepreneurship Award
• 2006 MSExchange.org Readers Choice Award
• 2006 Red Herring Top 10 Private Security Company
• 2005 Computer Reseller News Test Center Recommended
• 2005 Computer Reseller News Best Security Product Finalist

 

Clearwire

Clearwire was on a nationwide hunt for a location to house their new technical support center in 2006. But the search didn’t last long. In 2007, they discovered Santa Rosa County and found their new home. After TEAM Santa Rosa helped them land incentives, the internationally acclaimed company found its place at Santa Rosa Industrial Park. According to Clearwire, TEAM made it a no-brainer. TEAM was there to help them succeed. And that’s exactly what they’ve done. The company has been growing since it arrived in Santa Rosa County.

Offering a robust suite of advanced high-speed Internet services to consumers and businesses, Clearwire provides unmatched network capacity to deliver next-generation broadband access. While their product offerings are innovative, it is well known that technical support stands right beside technology. Clearwire initially planned on hiring 400 people upon their arrival in 2007. The company, though, has expanded twice since TEAM helped bring them to Santa Rosa County. They currently employ over 500 people at their technical support center, located in Milton, FL, and over 2,000 employees nationwide.

Clearwire’s Milton Manager Danny Kruse stated, “At Clearwire, our values are more than a statement on a wall. “We offer a (Always Better) mindset where we encourage a customer centric culture of continuous improvement and innovation”. Across the country, Clearwire’s teams have a unique opportunity to impact the communities they serve. Clearwire’s technology changes lives. Clearly, Clearwire has done just that for Santa Rosa County.

Trinity DNA Solutions

Think forensics. Think Trinity DNA Solutions. This state-of-the-art, accredited private forensic laboratory is one of only 12 of its kind in the entire United States. It is also the first of two in the state of Florida. Trinity DNA Solutions provides DNA testing to law enforcement agencies, courtroom officials, and the general public based on three areas of expertise: forensic, paternity, and identity.

Candy Zuleger is the force behind this innovative, successful business. Being a self-proclaimed “scientist at heart,” Candy is quick to point out that she didn’t go it alone. TEAM Santa Rosa Economic Development Council and the University of West Florida’s Small Business Development Center were both instrumental in attracting Trinity DNA Solutions to Santa Rosa County. Bottom line, they helped Zuleger secure property in an enterprise zone, offered attractive financial incentives, and pledged ongoing support, which continues to this day.

Zuleger chose to locate her company in Santa Rosa County because of this support and the region’s overall business climate. Proximity to multiple states was also a factor (Trinity DNA Solutions is the lead DNA facility serving North Florida, Georgia, and Alabama), as was the region’s brand promise: Life By Design.

Boise Building Solutions, Distributions

Northwest Florida was a natural fit for Boise Building Materials Distribution. The leading inventory-carrying wholesale distributor of building materials already had 29 locations throughout the United States, but there was an obvious void along the Gulf Coast. How did the company end up in Santa Rosa County in particular?

Well, according to Branch Manager, Ken Ponsell, there were several key factors. Most notably: TEAM Santa Rosa’s support, availability of affordable land on which the company built a first class 80,000 square-foot facility, and access to rail and major roadways that included Interstate 10.

Boise opened in March 2007, and with hiring support from TEAM Santa Rosa, is already up to 20- plus employees. TEAM also provided Boise with incentives and helped them with everything from securing land to permitting to building connections.

Ponsell encourages any industry considering a move to Santa Rosa County to contact TEAM to “get the straight scoop about this region, as well as the local feel.” He credits TEAM with a big reason Boise chose Santa Rosa County. Although he also acknowledges the “area sold itself,” he adds, “This region is a sportsman’s paradise.”

Melt-Pro

Melt-Pro specializes in glue melting equipment. Ironically, the company’s founder, Steve Wages, is stuck on Northwest Florida. He moved the company from Atlanta to Milton in 2005, and he remains thrilled with his decision. Initially attracted to the region based partially on incentives, Wages speaks highly about this region.

He loves living in a place that affords him the best of both worlds – a country setting with a suburban feel. Steve appreciates being surrounded by a ready and willing workforce and values his company’s relationship with TEAM Santa Rosa.

As a matter of fact, TEAM played an instrumental role in recruiting Melt-Pro. In Wages’ words, “TEAM gave me 100 percent support.” TEAM was, in essence, his clearinghouse by providing information on incentives, available land, workforce, training, vendors, and so forth.

Wages has maintained strong ties with TEAM and refers to the organization as “the dictionary of everything you need to know about business.”

SimWright

Citrus Greening has infected hundreds of citrus groves in Florida. Time is of the essence. Damage assessment needs to be conducted quickly. Precise boundaries need to be drawn between damaged and healthy crops...

Government officials have begun discussions to build a connector route to improve intrastate traffic flows. Cost is the major consideration. Where are the possible options for routing? What are the environmental impact considerations?

A company, looking to expand, has identified an undeveloped commercial property. Comprehensive and detailed data collection is a must. How well does the site meet the companies infrastructure needs? Are there wetlands involved? Is the land readily developable?

Three vexing problems, one company responds. When professionals, corporations, government agencies or even entire industries need Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) data, they contact SimWright, Inc., an image processing and software development firm that utilizes pioneering software to extract and optimize geospatial data from remote sensed imagery, resulting in enhanced analysis and modeling capabilities for its clients.

Simply put, SimWright is an all-seeing “eye in the sky” – a company that specializes in collecting and synthesizing detailed information about the world around – and under – us. Having worked in the same circles on various government and military research and development projects in the past, Dan Matthews and Kerry Christopher decided to join forces in 1996. Combining their years of expertise in sensor physics, image processing, modeling and simulation, systems integration, and component design and fabrication, SimWright comprises a highly-skilled team of researchers and developers that enables them to produce extremely robust and cost-effective solutions for their clients.

Among the cutting-edge technology that SimWright has developed:

• StereoGIS™ which enables an agency to perform accurate 2D/3D planimetric feature extraction and digital elevation modeling in house;
  
  
• Spidar ™ enables users to produce geospecific 3D visual models and texturing of cultural features within a stereo image.
  
  
• SweetSpot allows users to improve the geospatial accuracy of poorly registered imagery with a more accurate image source
  
  

SimWright uses these tools together with their system design and development expertise to provide quality, cost-effective services to disciplines involving orthophotomosaic generation, airport obstruction analysis and tower sighting, agricultural crop and forestry assessment, stereoscopic image generation and, geo-specific data exploitation. These disciplines are combined with GIS web application development delivery mechanisms to provide robust turn-around of data products.

“SimWright maintains a stable of 80 digital camera systems that are accessible to more than 45,000 Cessna aircraft around the world, these camera systems are on-site and data is collected by the pilot in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks” said Dan Mathews, SimWright’s Director of Technology. “Our automated digital camera system allows us to provide instant turn-around of an area for a client and our post-processing image generation system is internet-based so that the client can query our database to see real-time updates of their data collection request”.