by Mark Weis

You are approaching the end of federal buying season (tips here) just as Spectra Logic is wrapping up a record 2011 fiscal year (our CEO’s comments are here.) As a company, we achieved 30 percent overall growth and 49 percent growth in enterprise tape sales. Now is a good time for my annual State of the Union address- to relay what end users are reporting from the field, and share why Spectra Logic Federal revenues grew an astronomical 42 percent over this same time period last year. This combination will supply insight to the healthy contribution that Federal has made to the company’s recent achievements.

1.       IT managers in Federal data centers know it’s not practical to maintain all of their data on costly, constantly spinning disk systems. The power-friendly nature of tape coupled with its cost effective benefits for long-term storage simply make sense.

2.       For those who oversee the “bigger picture”- as in managing the entire data center- archiving on tape is a smart way to reduce your overall IT spend.

3.       High capacity and performance is demanded at data-intensive enterprises and HPC sites within Federal agencies. We’ve seen an increased interest in both subcategories within Federal this past year.

4.       Spectra expanded several partnerships in fiscal 2011, including systems integrators General Dynamics (summary here) Lockheed Martin (press releasehere).

5.       This fiscal year, we’re growing our presence with US Military bases and systems integrators overseas by expanding our Federal program with increased staffing, events and special programs in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

6.       We are Federal friendly. Spectra Logic is classified as a small business, we manufacture our storage products in the USA, hold our own GSA schedule, are listed on many federal purchasing contracts, and have developed expertise about your specific needs since we established the Federal division in 2004.

Spectra Logic Federal is currently hiring sales representatives and business development specialists in Boulder, Colo. and Washington, D.C. Current openings can be foundhere.

How can Spectra Logic help you tackle the end of Federal buying season? Contact me directly at markwe@spectralogic.com.

by Mark Weis, VP of Spectra Logic Federal

Spectra recently joined General Dynamics EDGE® Innovation Network, a collaborative, open-environment initiative enabling industry and academia, with government input, to work together to enhance the delivery cycle of new technologies and innovative capabilities to warfighters and first responders. Currently, there are several projects in development at six EDGE Innovation centers worldwide. The projects are intended to improve and enhance warfighter capabilities.

Pete Palmer, EDGE Innovation Network director, said, “The EDGE bridges gaps between end-user needs and current capabilities by promoting rapidly prototyped solutions that could close those gaps quickly. By applying the EDGE process, the government can quickly and cost-effectively review multiple options for users to evaluate in months rather than years.”

So where does Spectra Logic fit in? Spectra Logic Federal delivers data storage and archiving solutions to more than 200 agencies across the USA. Our storage expertise helps agencies solve unique Federal-specific challenges. Spectra’s products are extremely customizable; products in production today. By joining the EDGE Innovation Network, Spectra Logic can utilize EDGE labs to further develop leading-edge technology to meet the specific data storage needs and requests of EDGE end-users by tailoring our flexible storage products based on their hands-on lab experience.

For innovative companies with federal expertise like Spectra Logic, joining the EDGE innovation Network keeps us in sync with what our customers want now, and allows us to add new features in our products to suit these needs. EDGE allows small businesses to display their products in a lab environment, a preferred option for many Federal prospects prior to implementation.

Stay tuned to the Spectra Backup and Recover blog for future Federal updates related to our new EDGE membership and other activities.