Amitex Gets Off to Fast Start With Hospital Contracts

By Nick Wakeman, Senior Editor


SEPT. 15 ? With key partnerships, a spot pending on the General Services Administration schedule and a growing list of customers, Amitex Inc. is off to what company officials predict will be a $10 million first year.


Launched June 1 by William McSweeney and his brother John, the company has landed government clients such as the Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital in Chicago and Great Lakes Naval Hospital.


Amitex provides services and products related to storage area networks, Web-enabled document management, security, server-based computers and enhanced Internet solutions.


"We are focusing on where we see the future of computing," said William McSweeney, president and chief executive of the company, which is headquartered in Chicago.


McSweeney's company develops packaged solutions that pull together products from various vendors.

"We are not tied to any one vendor so we can stay at the cutting edge," McSweeney said. "Amitex combines systems integration, value-added reselling and consulting into one firm."


Some of the product partnerships Amitex has formed include CacheFlow Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., which makes products that speed Internet connections; F5 Networks Inc. of Seattle, which makes security and network management products; and Nortel Networks of Brampton, Ontario, which makes networking products.


The company also has formed alliances with service providers, such as Unisys Corp. of Blue Bell, Pa., and telecommunications company SBC Communications Inc. of San Antonio.


Amitex is looking to form more of these types of alliances with other systems integrators, McSweeney said. The company also is awaiting approval for its spot on the GSA schedule, which will make it easier to sell directly to federal customers.


McSweeney said the company should hit about $10 million in revenue in the first year, with about 80 percent of that coming from government clients.


In addition to federal civilian and defense customers, Amitex also is targeting state and local governments, he said.


The company has only nine employees, but more are being hired, McSweeney said.


And being small isn't a disadvantage at this stage. "We aren't well-known, but on the plus side, we are fast and we are fluid," he said. "Small businesses can have some advantages."