RTL Networks CEO and Founder Richard Lewis says the company's IT services business has been up slightly, but the company saw hardware sales fall from $9 million in 2009 to $3 million in 2012.
“It's very easy to put hardware buys in the category of 'nice to have,'” he says. “Fortunately, the services business is more profitable than hardware, so the impact on the bottom line isn't as big.”
Lewis says the dip in hardware led the company to look at new opportunities.
“We asked ourselves, 'What adjustments do we need to make?'” The answer: a new energy division.
The move has more than made up from the decline in hardware.
"In the last six months, we've sold more than $13 million in new energy equipment,” touts Lewis.
The twin focus on IT and energy is “strategic."
“The convergence of those two industries is the smart grid," he says. "We want to be a thought leader for the smart grid technologies.”
The
Department of Energy is a primary customer of the new energy division. Eighty percent of RTL's business is government-related.
Lewis says the company is looking to start a new construction division in 2013. “Energy is so highly linked to construction. We could leverage our success with energy to launch a new construction business."
The growth could allow the nearly-100-employee company to hire as many as 25 new employees in 2013.
“We're always looking for good engineers," Lewis says. "I'm bullish on Denver. I like what's going on in housing, I like the leadership, I like what's going on at the airport and with transportation. There's a lot of activity."
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