Corporate Profile & Media Kit
Xylotek™ is a full-service, IT consulting firm now based out of Cambridge in the technology hotbed of Waterloo Region, Ontario. One of Canada’s fastest growing companies, it was established in 2005, and has built a loyal and diverse customer base, resulting in revenue growth of more than 800% since inception. Xylotek™, which celebrated its fifth anniversary on June 1st, 2010, has received significant recognition as a technology growth company. For two years running (2008 and 2009), it made the PROFIT HOT 50 list, which is the definitive ranking of Canada’s Emerging Growth Companies. The ranking, published in PROFIT Magazine and online at PROFITguide.com, ranks young firms by two-year revenue growth. In March of 2010, Xylotek™ was again honoured by the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce as a nominee for Business of the Year for firms with under 20 employees. In 2009 it won the award. Xylotek™ was also nominated for an RBC Royal Bank Award for Small Business - Business Excellence award in the 28th annual Ontario business Achievement Awards (OBAA) for 2010. In addition, Xylotek™ was named the 1st place Canadian company, 3rd place overall for North America, in the 2010 Best Tech Workplaces awards.
“In a very short period of time, Xylotek™ has compiled an impressive record of service to their clients and community,” said Joan Fisk, President and CEO of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce. “It has quickly emerged as a local and national leader in the highly competitive IT sector.”
To be recognized as Business of the Year (Under 20 Employees), a firm must be a member of the Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, and in the past year must have demonstrated innovative and proactive leadership, measurable success as a business and employer, act as a good corporate citizen, and have made exceptional contributions by promoting community betterment.
Xylotek™ has a focus on system and network administration, and handles everything from specific projects to complete IT department outsourcing. It takes a preventative mindset approach to all system and network administration activities, and regards such issues as fault tolerance, redundancy, and security as key considerations for any task involving network or systems design. The objective is to ensure the reliability, recoverability, and integrity of a customer’s data, and also to position customers so they can successfully deal with any possible system or component failures and other recovery needs.
“Consider us high-tech aspirin,” says CEO and co-founder Douglas Grosfield. “We feel that our role is to maximize how technology can benefit an organization, and also to alleviate technology pain whenever it may occur. We make sure that we are available on a 24/7 basis. This is crucial in our business.”
In today’s high-tech world, integration can often lead to a scenario of plug and pray. Despite considerable expense in terms of time and money, many organizations face nightmare dilemmas where system instability, lack of availability, repeated crashes, slow network performance, and poor security are common. Everyone wants their user base experience to be positive, but it doesn’t always work out because of a lack of understanding about the ripple effect when a new piece of technology is introduced.
Grosfield and fellow systems engineer Mike Topp started Xylotek™ in June, 2005. The company now has a staff of 21 and tracking for fiscal 2010 revenue of about $5 million. It enjoys a close relationship with its team of business coaches who help the staff maintain a high degree of service and accountability. Xylotek™ is a member of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, the Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce as well as a Titan Sponsor of Communitech, and regularly attends functions from all these organizations.
Xylotek™ has over 200 customers who hail from various sectors including insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, aerospace, legal, financial, automotive, government, as well as charitable organizations. Clients range from small- and mid-size companies to large-scale data centres. They include Ontario College Application Services (OCAS), Colleges Ontario, Moneris Solutions, Ontario Power Generation, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, Desire2Learn, Cambridge Memorial Hospital, Whitby Mental Health Centre, Magellan Aerospace, Brick Brewing Company, Ogilvy Renault, Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre, Solowave Design, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Canada, Plant Products, and Merak Systems Corporation to name a few.
Xylotek™ recently introduced a new enhancement to its service offerings with XFactor™, which is a hosted, proactive 24/7 monitoring-and-alerting system for clients. Xylotek™’s Corporate Partnerships and Vendor Relationships include: Gold Partner for CA, Certified Partner with Microsoft, VMware Partner, Silver Level Partner with Citrix, Application Monitoring Space Partner with eG Innovations, IBM xSERIES ePARTNER, Oracle/Sun Microsystems Partner, HP Partner, Symantec Partner, FortiNet Gold Partner, and Cisco Partner. Xylotek™ is working toward its Premier Level Partnership with IBM.
Xylotek™ is involved with the Waterloo Region Immigrant Employee Network, which provides internships for immigrants possessing trade skills. As well, it is involved with co-op programs at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Conestoga College. All three institutions offer four-month, work terms for students as part of their programs of study. Xylotek actively supports such charities as the Children’s Wish Foundation, Child Find Canada, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Canada, The Helping Others Together (HOT) Ride, Prostate Cancer Ride for Dad, and the CIBC Run for the Cure.
Douglas Grosfield
Douglas Grosfield is the President and CEO of Xylotek Solutions Inc.™ As a co-founder of the company, which made the 2008 and 2009 PROFIT HOT 50 – the definitive ranking of Canada’s Emerging Growth Companies – he is responsible for managing business activities, new business development, and finance. He works with a wide variety of customers from such sectors as aerospace, manufacturing, healthcare, insurance, and high-tech.
Prior to establishing Xylotek™, he was a Senior Technical Consultant with CedarCreek Networking in Kitchener, an IT Support Specialist and Operations Team Leader with Gore Mutual Insurance Company in Cambridge, and a Technical Team Leader with Karis Remote Access Systems Inc. in Mississauga. Mr. Grosfield earned his Microsoft Certifications at Conestoga College, and spends considerable time each year in such vendor-specific training facilities as IBM, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, FortiNet, and Barracuda in order to gain and maintain industry-specific skills and certifications.
Mr. Grosfield lives in Kitchener with his family, is an avid motorcycle enthusiast, and a competitive martial arts practitioner.
Chris Pickard
Chris Pickard is the Chief Operating Officer of Xylotek Solutions Inc.™ He joined the company in 2006, which was one year after its founding. As COO of Xylotek™, Mr. Pickard is responsible for managing business activity, business development, and internal operations. Mr. Pickard is a Senior Technical Consultant, Systems Engineer, and Design/Implementation Support Specialist.
Prior to joining Xylotek™, he spent several years at Karis Remote Access Systems in Mississauga where he was promoted from System Administrator to Director of Operations, and then to General Manager in charge of sales and service.
Mr. Pickard has a B. Sc. from the University of Waterloo, and was the recipient of the Imperial Oil Scholarship. He also obtained a Diploma in Information Technology from the DeVry Institute of Technology. He lives in Binbrook, Ontario with his family, is an avid motorcycle enthusiast, and enjoys listening to live music.
Michael Topp
Michael Topp is the Chief Technology Officer of Xylotek Solutions Inc.™ He is a co-founder of the company, and is responsible for the design, implementation, management and support of customer IT solutions. In addition, he reviews and recommends new product offerings from technology partners.
Prior to co-founding Xylotek™ with Douglas Grosfield in 2005, Mr. Topp spent three years as a Senior Technical Consultant with CedarCreek Networking Inc. in Kitchener, and five years as a Network Administrator and Senior Systems Engineer with Ontario College Application Services in Guelph. He has also worked in the technology skills area with Dofasco, Mohawk College, and AECL.
Mr. Topp has a Computer Systems Technology Diploma from Mohawk College in Hamilton. He is a Nortel BCM Sales Specialist, a Nortel BCM Design Specialist, and a Nortel BCM Support Specialist, and has extensive professional training expertise. Mr. Topp lives in Kitchener with his family, and is a student of history and modern science.
Fact Sheet
Headquarters: |
3-600 Jamieson Parkway |
Website: |
www.xylotek.ca |
Telephone: |
519-584-2089 |
Management Team: |
Douglas W. Grosfield - President & Chief Executive Officer |
Services: |
Design and Implementations |
Partial Client List: |
Agronomy Company of Canada |