Ahead Ranks #2 on CRN's 2011 Fast Growth 100 With 1977% Growth

CHICAGO, Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Data center consultant/integrator Ahead today was recognized as the second fastest-growing value-added reseller on Everything Channel's CRN 2011 Fast Growth 100 list at a conference in Florida. Ahead logged two-year revenue growth exceeding 1977% with annual sales of more than $121 million in 2010.  

Ahead achieved the rapid growth by focusing on solution-based selling of next-generation data center technologies with consulting, product procurement and implementation services under one roof. The firm generates a substantial portion of its revenues through services, driving business as well as building repeat customers by recommending a technology roadmap with specific recommendations for the next 24 to 36 months rather than selling products individually.

Ahead's growth has also been fueled by a multimillion-dollar in-house lab that is used to demonstrate the specific new technologies relevant to a prospect or client, showcase multiple technologies working together, and compare competing technologies side by side.

"Even before we opened our doors, we decided that we would build the company around what the client needed, not around the usual product silos. That decision has literally shaped the company, from our organizational structure to the fact that we are vendor-independent," said Ahead President Daniel Adamany. "Our growth is a direct result of the way we constructed our business model to help organizations address the rapid changes in data center infrastructure."

In June, Ahead was recognized as the Top Cloud Practice as well as the #142 largest firm (up from #435 a year earlier) on CRN's 2011 VAR500 list. The VAR500 ranks the 500 largest value-added resellers, solution providers and technology integrators in North America based on revenues from hardware sales, software sales and managed IT services.

About Ahead

Ahead is a Chicago-based IT consultancy specializing in designing, engineering and deploying next-generation data centers that combine virtualization, storage and cloud technologies to help businesses reduce costs while also becoming more nimble and scalable. As one of the fastest-growing solution providers focused on the data center, Ahead has developed innovative methodologies and invested in a multimillion-dollar lab for testing, demonstrating and delivering integrated solutions for building next-generation data centers. For more information, visit www.ThinkAheadIT.com.

SOURCE Ahead