Bringing Value through Sustainable Growth: Janus Networks

The Silicon Review

It is often said that running a business is almost always considered harder than starting one; whether it is hospitality, real estate, finance or any other industry. And the same is true for anything to do with IT. A software company requires efficient servers and a capable network handled by a competent administrator. Establishing a network and hosting applications ergonomically is one of the major hurdles that any new company faces, as it requires a significant amount of startup capital.

However, an ambitious company has identified a large market to help budding startups with managing their network and infrastructure load. Based in San Mateo, CA, Janus Networks helps companies manage their infrastructure and resources efficiently. As an organization grows, its requirements change and sometimes it gets difficult and expensive to keep up with the changes. Additionally, with most of the companies migrating to the cloud, Janus Networks has stepped up to provide all the logistical support and solutions to complex problems that companies face in a highly dynamic industry.

In-Conversation with Nicholas Chu, the CEO of Janus Networks:

Q. What are the challenges you face in your industry and how does Janus address those challenges?

We leverage startups for cloud-based applications and servers and although we see cost savings initially, the costs get higher over time, compared to the traditional capital expense purchase. So, many startups offer cloud backups, and it has been a challenge to find a workable partner—one that is well funded and will survive the length of time our clients need. We often have to upgrade or change our services because a startup partner is suddenly acquired by a major corporation.

Many mid-market corporations today are still trying to maximize their budgets and extend the life of every dollar they spend on IT. At Janus Networks, we offer cost-effective solutions that will ultimately save money for the customer and help them get a higher return on their investment. The challenge for us is to provide a well-estimated budget plan to fit the needs of our mid-market customers.

Our major challenge has been dealing with the frequency of product upgrades over the years. Microsoft Office, in addition to Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL servers all have a three-year lifespan. EOL support has also decreased over the years in comparison to Windows 2003. Many of the mid-market customers who have upgraded their services were still running Windows 2008 systems because they did not have the budget to upgrade. The infrastructure of many cities still runs on the Windows 2003 Domain Controller only because the budget for the city does not allow them to upgrade.

Q. How did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

Mobility and cloud-based services are huge pushes at this moment. Cloud-based services do save the company upfront dollars, and if you’re a launching a stealth startup, a cloud-based solution will meet your needs without the need for large amounts of capital. For our smaller business, we resell our cloud-based products such as Office365, Cloud Backups, VoIP Phone services, and Virtualization Services. It is very important for newer companies to adapt to emerging technologies and one of our major offerings is to help companies with just that.

Q. About adaptability, how do you stay relevant to the consumer interests and needs in this highly volatile market?

The Gold Partner relationship with Microsoft has been very beneficial for us. As we grow, we want our customers to know that we provide certified technicians to help them resolve their issues. By leveraging this status, we are able to market far more effectively to our customers, build a brand with a solid name in the IT industry, and know that we offer the expertise needed for an all-around solution.

We utilized almost every part of the benefits that Microsoft provides its Gold Partners— from sales leads to the software and support we receive. We leverage the 50 hours of support they provide with our presales conversations and, when needed, for in-depth expertise in advanced incidents.

Q. How do you keep your company up and running? What are the factors that help your company to compete on a global platform?

We provide a virtual environment that supports a flavor of Windows environments. Companies that need to support their servers in a data center without having to pay for all the extra services can contact Janus Networks to host their server for them, as long as servers meet our security and network criteria. In addition to hosting in our data center, we also provide firewall services, network failover and load balancing, and a multi-ISP environment.

We can connect to a variety of Internet providers, including Paxio, Level3, AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier, Zayo, and XO Communications. Our data center is also HIPAA, HITECH, PCI DSS 3.0, SSAE 16, SOC 2 Type 2, and ISA 3402 certified. Most importantly, we have had a 100 percent uptime for the past 10 years. It is our commitment to excellence that makes us one of the leaders in our sector.

Q. Customer service varies, but companies can still be successful. How do you maintain your customers’ trust and loyalty?

In heavily saturated technological hubs, such as the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, we face an extremely competitive market. However, we have found that there is plenty of fish in the sea for new customers. Not only do we provide reasonable, cost-effective solutions and certified talent, but we assess our customers’ requirements and develop a customized, working solution for them. We provide an all-inclusive IT solution where we can take over all aspects of a client’s IT infrastructure. We provide everything from desktop setup to server support, phone support, collocation, accounting services, and now certified training for customer’s employees. We incorporate our customers’ mission statements into our approach and meet with them quarterly to accurately shape their technology strategy.