GRAND RAPIDS ? It started out seven years ago as a small event where Trivalent Group vendors and partners gathered to share new products. Last week the Solutions Expo 2011 attracted 325 paying attendees and 24 vendors who paid to display their wares.
?We?ve attracted a great cross section this year,? said Trivalent Group President Larry Andrus. ?We have vendors and attendees from all over West Michigan, as well as Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and Midland. We even have a couple key business partners from Ann Arbor.?
The Expo, with particular focus on cloud computing, was held at two large conference rooms at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, which were barely able to handle the over flow crowds.
Andrus said the vendors and business partners reflected Trivalent?s market mix: Health care, financial institutions, information technology, government agencies, security and even law firms, including Mika Meyers Beckett & Jones.
?We came here because it was an IT crowd with an ear for the ?C? people,? said Attorney Jennifer Puplava, who gave a 20 minute overview to the audience of technology law issues. Her firm also had a booth to hand out literature and answer questions one on one.
Trivalent Vice President Dawn Simpson said the expo is a benefit for customers where they can meet all the vendors Trivalent works with on one day.
?It?s more in-depth,? she said. ?The only new wrinkle is we?ve now included break-out sessions where our vendors can brief customers.?
Simpson expects Trivalent to have a lot more customers in the second half of 2011. The expo could play into that upsurge in business.
?We?re booking a lot more activity in the second half of the year,? she said. ?This expo solidifies our outreach. We can catch a lot of the decision makers here.?
Trivalent posted $22.5 million in revenue last year from more than 700 clients. The company employs 65 at offices in Grandville, Mt. Pleasant, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. The company focuses on communications, Capital, Systems and Services.
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