Fayetteville, NC (Vocus) February 19, 2010
In a tough economy thousands of Americans have been forced to seek non-traditional employment alternatives due to an unemployment gap still hovering in the double digits. While many run from the public sector to the security of Government jobs, some Americans are doing just the opposite by diving head first into the high-risk and sweet-rewards of Entrepreneurship. AIT, Inc. a fourteen year old web hosting provider gives the Entrepreneur and the American dream a much needed preverbal jump start.
In the early 1990s Infantry officer, Clarence Briggs, decided after suffering a serious injury during a parachuting exercise that the business of web hosting and domain name registration represented a significant opportunity and soon converted his garage into the companys first operations center. Several years the company moved into a 5,000 square foot building. The company now with customers in over one hundred and seven countries is owns and operates a 93,000 square foot facility and Data Center located in Fayetteville, NC.
Like most of our resellers, I was working a full time job, coming home and putting in eight to ten hours at night and on the weekends. It wasnt easy but a little tenacity goes along way. Said Briggs. The thing that made us different from other web hosting companies is a fanatical commitment to customer service and our web hosting and domain name reseller programs. Weve always tried to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive, developing products and services for corporate clients as well as those who are working part time from home-based startups, continued Briggs. Small businesses are the key to any free enterprise economy and they are a key part of our client portfolio, said Briggs.
Similarly, as Kenneth Rivers wound down his military career, he was incredibly positive about his future as a part time owner of a web development company. Rivers, a Special Forces operator and Green Beret found an online article outlining the success of a similar brother in arms, a former infantry officer turned tech CEO, Clarence Briggs. Briggs, the founder of AIT, Inc. (http://www.AIT.com) has paved the way as a shining example of success from startup to a fourteen year industry domain registration and web hosting incumbent. The story of Briggs and AIT provided enough motivation for Rivers to ignite his own entrepreneurship and the pursuit of his lifelong dream to become a business owner.
Rivers claims the Hosting Reseller Programs of AIT were the perfect answer to the transition his military career to the civilian world. I was actually working my new business part time while still in the military, said Rivers. AIT provides the solid foundation that has made my company successful. Our latest project, WACommerce.org is a hosted economic development tool which helps the local community to keep local dollars local by empowering area businesses with a simple tool to find contracts and subcontracting opportunities at both the municipal, state, and federal level continued Rivers. Wacommerce.org is hosted by AIT and is powered by the companys proprietary technology, GovTide which has a proven track record in North Carolina branded as MatchForce.org.
We love stories like this, said Avery Skelton VP of Sales and Marketing for AIT, a two time Inc. 500 Company and D&T Fast 500 Award Recipient. Given that 80% percent of the company is prior military, its always fulfilling to see those who have served in the armed forces come to us and say that they have been inspired to start their own company based on the AIT story, continued Skelton, who is also a veteran who has served with the U.S. Armed Forces.
Rhonda Perkins, shares the enthusiasm of Rivers as she has recently resigned from her position as a purchaser of government products to dedicate full time to her business which specializes in Internet Marketing and web design services. I realized that I wasnt going to be able to learn how to be a server administrator overnight so I started researching companies that specialize in managed reseller hosting and dedicated servers, said Perkins. I found AIT nine months ago and since then Ive tripled my revenue due to all of the private label web hosting services offered by AIT. I also signed up to be my own Domain Name Registrar at http://www.AITdomains.com. AITs email marketer application has added an entire new bundle of Internet Marketing solutions to my portfolio. Said Perkins. I will hire my third full time employee within the next month. Said Perkins.
AITs reseller web hosting programs have lead the way for many small businesses to flourish. The Web Host and Domain Registration Company recently announced a large discount on its core line of hosting plans including fully managed, dedicated servers that give anyone with a computer and an internet connection the ability to start reselling or hosting their websites for less than the cost of an average monthly utility bill. All AIT plans include over 100 free, private label services such as a web site builder and shopping cart. The company also couples free demo accounts within its search engine, tyBit (http://www.tybit.com) to ensure that new web hosting customer are also getting a head start on the promotion of their web sites. The company invites anyone interested in becoming a reseller to visit its web site http://www.AIT.com or call 1-800-878-4084.
Advanced Internet technologies Inc, offers web hosting, domain name registration, web design, email marketing and is home to over 210,000 customers that include Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses. Founded in 1996 AIT has grown into a multimillion-dollar web hosting and technology company, from its humble beginnings in a garage to its current 93,000 SF headquarters. AIT has achieved 14 straight years of sustained profitability and been named 2 times to The Inc. 500 list of fast growing firms, 3 times to the Deloitte & Touch
