For immediate release

Harwinton, CT

For business owner TJ Root, keeping things local is a point of pride. Born and raised in adjacent Torrington, Root started CompDAT in 1997 at the age of 13 and grew it from an after school hustle into a premier provider of IT services for local businesses, schools and municipalities throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts. His passion for learning about technology has kept CompDAT at the forefront of an ever-changing landscape of products and services that help small to mid sized business improve management of their IT systems and resources.

“From monitored backup and disaster recovery solutions to cloud services and fiberoptic networking, we want to be a one stop shop…someone business owners can rely on to not just push whatever products or services we currently offer, but someone they can trust and partner with to implement the best solutions for whatever technology challenges they face.”, said Root in a recent interview. “Small business owners don’t generally have the time or expertise to coordinate four or five different hardware or software vendors to implement a solution, they want someone with experience who can do it for them and guarantee the interoperability of those integrated systems in a final product”.

Indeed, the company’s offerings span a wide variety of services, most of which fall under the scope of an MSP or managed services provider, a term used to describe IT businesses that provide remote support, management, backup and layered security offerings into a single subscription-based product. Most recently they have been adding sophisticated networking capabilities, including fiberoptic networking services and fusion splicing – a service normally reserved for specialty organizations or telephone and cable network operators due to its cost and complexity – and helping small businesses afford solutions built around the technology. “We have customers in the hospitality industry that have multi-acre campuses and they came to us looking for WiFi for their guests as well as IP video surveillance systems and we said we have everything covered but the distance networking pieces, but let’s see what we can come up with”. Not one to shy from a challenge, Root learned the splicing techniques himself first before teaching his employees and purchasing the required equipment, some of which runs well into the five figure range. “This is a service we can now offer other local IT service providers and electricians” said Root. “They don’t have to call a specialist in from southern CT or a neighboring state, they have one right here. We can provide better service in less time because of our proximity, which is good for new installations but even more important for emergency repairs to damaged cables where time is always of the essence”.

When asked about the new office space Root said that the expansion into the space will help to improve service levels to existing customers, and allow for growth to serve even more local businesses. “Work from home is great and we’ve helped lots of customers improve their capabilities in this area, but for team building and the level of service we want to provide, a state-of-the-art facility like the one we are working to build here is not just a place to hang our hats, it’s a requirement for monitoring, testing and developing new systems for our customers.”

Root, who lives in Harwinton with his wife Brittany and 3 young children, is keen on keeping his business here. “We have business friendly local government that is focused on keeping taxes low, access to Route 8, great schools…it’s a wonderful place to grow a business or a family”. He expects to move in to the space by late spring or early summer.