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International Data Corp. was started in 1991 by Chris Burns and Rob Kathol in a shared Havertown office. When desktop computers and notebook computers were selling for $2,000 to $4,000, they were able to purchase computers from the computer services division of AT&T and resell them to AT&T corporate for a profit.
"We had a deal with computer services to sell the PCs and hold the payment," said Burns. "AT&T corporate agreed to pay on delivery rather than collecting within 15 to 30 days.
"We started IDC with no money."
With AT&T corporate and DBM of Whitehouse Station, N.J., as their first two clients, the two men posted gross sales of $17 million in the first year.
They worked together when Burns was a network sales account manager in the computer services division at AT&T from 1989 to 1991. Kathol was the director of marketing at a computer aggregator, Claretech of Exton, from 1990 to 1991.
IDC has 30 active corporate clients, including SEI Investments in Oaks, Comcast Corp., Aramark in Philadelphia and Cigna Corp.
Hardware sales now account for 40 percent of the business with managed services at 24 percent, project management at 15 percent and business continuity planning at 15 percent.
IDC has started selling business continuity planning services to clients of SEI Investments. They will start a $15,000 service project for a New York hedge fund this week.
For OmniCare Clinical Research of Upper Merion, IDC performed a "harmonization" project that reduced four computer operating systems to a single Windows 2000 computer platform. The $580,000 project replaced 350 desktop computers with NT workstations and reallocated another 120 desktop computers in corporate offices in London and Cologne, Germany.
The eight-month project includes leased computers and support services for the newly created network, said Kathol.
IDC developed a business continuity plan for the administration office of Ross University in Metro Park, N.J. The $40,000 project included 100 workers.
Burns grew up in Springfield, Delaware County, and earned a marketing degree at West Chester University in 1989. Kathol grew up in Omaha, Neb., and earned a finance degree at Boston College in 1989.
The company has grown to 20 employees, including 12 consultants. IDC projects gross sales of $6 million this year. In February, the business moved within the King of Prussia Business Center to new offices. The LaSalle Group of New York paid for their office move and renovations so it could lease additional space to Diva Systems.
IDC has opened a one-person sales office in Jacksonville, Fla., to sell computer services to the state of Florida and Zurich Insurance Services. In the next three years, they plan to open additional sales offices in Northern California and England.
"Clients don't have the expertise to do these projects in-house," said Burns. "It is more cost effective to hire us rather than hire an employee."
Carl Rotenberg can be reached at crotenberg@timesherald.com or 610-272-2500, ext. 350.
