The Federal IT market is saturated with events-based marketing programs – with weak value propositions for the government customer. So, how do you get Feds to show for a new show? More than just a show, how do you engage Federal IT decision makers around key issues to establish important relationships and qualify sales leads? DLT, and its partner Red Hat, wanted to develop an impactful, high-value, and high-credibility marketing program to cut through the clutter and engage Federal IT decision makers on an issue which is central to their mission in a time of fiscal austerity. That program was Red Hat’s “Federal IT on a Budget” Program.

In 1991 we set out to align ourselves with the most prominent IT software and hardware manufacturers in the world. The solutions offered by our best-in-class vendor partners would allow us to confidently support our public sector clients to the best of our ability while helping them achieve their agency missions. That objective took us to 2001 when DLT aligned ourselves with VERITAS, the market leader in data storage, through VERITAS’S GSA Agent Program. The GSA Agent Program was designed to give any authorized VERITAS reseller a vehicle for Federal Government business when no contract vehicle existed.

The DLT Race for the Cup is a picture scavenger hunt which takes place in the Washington D.C. metro area. Six years ago the DLT Social Committee, an employee-led group that focuses on employee events and morale, started the event as a team building activity. However, this annual scavenger hunt has quickly become one of the most highly anticipated events of the year. Teams of about ten people pile into limos and party busses ready to have the time of their life. Their goal is simple: solve as many of the 20 clues as they could and be back to a dedicated meeting spot by nine o’clock that night. Each team is competing for a chance to have their name on the highly-regarded prize, the Race for the Cup trophy, nicknamed the Babar Cup. The clues range from forming a human pyramid to finding the “bacteria central” in a nearby mall. Each picture earned the team points as well as countless memories.

When Rick Marcotte came on board as President and CEO of DLT Solutions back in 2004, he set a goal for himself. To take DLT from a $300 million company, to a company generating $500 million in revenue, within five years. Through our own sales and marketing efforts, not only did Rick meet the goal, he did so one year early. It’s because of accomplishments like this Rick was named “Executive of the Year" by Everything Channel in 2009. The Award was presented at the VAR500 awards gala in New York City, which brings together North America's top information technology (IT) solution providers. The eighth annual 2008 VARBusiness Awards honored the 500 companies that earned a spot in the ranking and also singled out 16 solution providers for special recognition.

You can’t under stress the importance of having a good support system in place when you’re battling a potentially life-threatening illness. In 2008, the then Director of the Enterprise Platforms was diagnosed with testicular cancer. DLT employees along with The DLT Foundation knew it was important to let him know he wasn’t alone in his fight. We hosted an event where employees had the opportunity to shave their heads in solidarity with our coworker who had lost his hair during cancer treatment.

The images of DLT Solutions’ old website serve as a nice little time capsule of the early days of the internet. Looking back, it’s hard to imagine how, as Internet users, we ever got through our daily surfing regiments with so little Web page functionality. But as more and more people turn to websites as their primary source for information, it’s clear a company’s website is often times their best asset to deliver information more fluently to their customers and employees. That’s why DLT launched our current website in Fall 2010.

With an IT budget in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually, it’s no surprise that many organizations compete for the coveted business opportunities within the public sector IT space. For two decades, DLT Solutions has provided government agencies and business customers with state-of-the-art technology products, services and solutions. And beginning in August of this year, DLT is celebrating its 20 year anniversary of successfully providing the best possible information technology solutions to our customers. In the past 20 years, we have learned quite a bit about the challenges and opportunities of selling and marketing to the government; from aligning ourselves with top-tier manufacturers to provide systems integrators, resellers, and end customers with best-in-class software, hardware, and the services to make them both work. And, at the same time, provide our manufacturer partners with award-winning, best-in-class, sales, marketing and operational support.

CEO by day, rocker by night. OK, not exactly. But when our President and CEO Rick Marcotte takes stage and channel his inner rock star, he doesn’t disappoint. As a talented drummer, throughout high school and college Rick was a bit of a budding rock star. In fact, a large number of the Senior Management team have musical backgrounds. Russ Holmes, Senior Vice President of the Enterprise Applications division plays bass; Chris Laggini, Vice President of Human Resources and Jim Helou, Vice President of the Autodesk Government/Geospatial Data Systems Division both play guitar. Add in the rest of the senior management team as backup singers or tambourine/cowbell players, and collectively, they’re the DLT house band, Aged and Confused.

Back in October of 2009, DLT Solutions’ was running on all cylinders. After three consecutive years of 20 percent sales growth year over year, and crossing the half-billion mark in sales in 2008, we were poised to continue the strong growth trend into 2010 and beyond. TZP Capital Partners I, a private equity fund focused on investments in U.S.-based middle market business and consumer services companies had taken notice of our success and decided it wanted to financially invest in our future achievements.

Every year around the holiday season, we all get in the giving spirit. You put your spare change in a bucket, get an extra gift for a loved one, and maybe even bake some cookies for someone. Well, at DLT Solutions, the holiday spirit gets kicked up a few notches in the form of our annual Toys for Tots Competitive Toy Drive. Toys for Tots is a US Marine Corps-run program with the objective of helping less fortunate children throughout the United States experience the joy of Christmas.