Bob Venero, CEO of integrator Future Tech, likes to say his company doesn't focus on core competencies, it focuses on "core successes." The successes Future Tech targets today are cropping up mainly in its digital convergence integration business in both commercial and residential markets. Last year, the Holbrook, N.Y.-based firm doubled its revenue to about $43 million, due in large part, Venero says, to commercial sales of digital products and services.

These successes came over time, as Future Tech grew its digital convergence business in increasingly larger steps. The eight-year-old integrator began by installing a few plasma displays, then moving on to videoconferencing solutions, creating secure wireless networks with a full complement of peripherals, and hooking up IP-based surveillance systems.

Satisfied commercial customers were soon asking Venero and his crew to replicate many of the same types of solutions in their homes. While home solutions now account for only about 1 percent of Future Tech's revenue, Venero expects new technologies and a handful of innovative services to push that number to about 7 percent within the next 18 months. "It's definitely going to grow," he says with a smile.

One way Venero hopes to grow his entire digital business is by highlighting, marketing and demonstrating these technologies and products through Future Tech's showcase digital business suite at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Venero realized a while back that high-priced corporate suites at sports stadiums like the Uniondale, N.Y., home of the New York Islanders hockey team could be used for a lot more than just watching a game or a concert; they could also be used for conducting and winning business.

"These companies are spending up to $200,000 a year leasing these suites," he says. "We wanted to create an atmosphere where people not only talk about business, but close deals. Why not give them a place where they can sign the deal today instead of waiting until tomorrow?"

About a year ago, Venero took his idea to Charles Wang, the founder and former CEO of Computer Associates International who now owns the Islanders. Two hours later, Wang, certainly no stranger to the power of technology, was sold.

Future Tech began by setting up a wireless network throughout the stadium, including the locker rooms, press box and 12 out of 36 corporate suites. The company then commandeered two suites and made them into one large suite, complete with a shiny marble floor and leather chairs, to serve as a showroom. "Everything you have at your office to conduct business, you now have here," Venero says.

Future Tech has commitments from several corporations to outfit their suites, and Venero expects more after the stadium is refurbished during the next year. Other stadium owners who have visited the suite also have expressed interest, he says.

Paul Lancey, senior vice president of the Islanders and a former CA executive, says the high-tech suites help the stadium bring in new customers, who see the suites as a way to give them a competitive edge. "It gets people talking," Lancey says. "Every day there are more and more people with different types of appliances looking to get connected during the game. It's the way the world is going, and we have to provide them with that environment. It's sexy."

If a corporate suite can approach anything near "sexy," then Future Tech has done a pretty good job.

In the suite, Philips plasma displays hang on three walls and are connected to a Polycom VSX 7000 videoconferencing device and Axis cameras. Executives can connect with the outside world using fixed and wireless IP phones from 3Com and multifunction devices from Brother. Proxim wireless access points and cards and 3Com Ethernet switches support the network. Bored children can play with a Microsoft XBox. When athletes or performers visit the suite, executives can have their pictures taken and printed with an Olympus digital camera and high-quality printer.

"Businessmen can visit Bob's suite and learn about the technologies," Lancey says. "They see how it benefits them, and then Bob makes it happen."

Future Tech is a good example of how a digital integrator with a strong marketing plan and business proposition can leverage vendor relationships. "The great thing is that all the manufacturers came together when they saw what was happening and donated their products," Venero says.

Over the past few years, Venero has shifted some business away from traditional distributors such as Tech Data and Ingram Micro and formed direct relationships with manufacturers of digital products. Since many digital integrators do not buy products in large volume, they are not as dependent on the logistics, credit, rebate and support programs that make up the core offerings of broadline distributors. Venero says the manufacturers are also more willing than Tech Data and Ingram Micro to negotiate price. Not one to leave any stone unturned, Future Tech is also leveraging its commercial relationships to expand its residential business. Venero and other integrators secure products for their residential clients through their companies' employee discount programs. Venero prefers to install business-class products, such as Proxim's, in the home. They usually cost more than consumer-class products, he says, but their reliability and stability lessen the probability of expensive service calls.

While many vendors are starting to roll out prosumer products targeted at the home, companies such as Proxim are waiting to see how the market plays out. Proxim sold an 802.11 wireless device to the home in the late 1990s but eventually dropped it. "It's too early in the game to say whether Proxim would directly target the home market, but we do see a lot of opportunity there," says Lynn Lucas, the company's director of product marketing. "First, we will drive a product into the enterprise to make sure it's robust and then, through evolution, it could eventually move to the home. It's definitely something we think is going to be attractive over time. We do know our products are being used in the home by a certain type of person."

Future Tech's residential sales usually include a home entertainment setup with a high-definition plasma TV, IP cameras for home security, centralized storage for video and music files, a digital editing solution, a wireless network, and some home automation and control. "We can install a full-blown home setup, including a plasma, for less than $20,000," Venero says. "In a few years it will probably be between $5,000 and $7,000."

To compensate for the loss in revenue as commodity prices take hold, Future Tech plans to boost margins with a variety of services. The company has created a homegrown wireless operations center (WOC) to remotely monitor commercial and home networks. It plans to price the service based on the number of devices on the network, or in service blocks, based on a particular number of calls. No services will be sold without a signed contract. "Our fear of the home [market] is that the customer is going to call for the most stupid reasons," Venero says. "So we'll probably sell them a block of 10 calls per month. If they go over that, we'll be able to charge them. We'll make that a revenue generator."

Despite declining product prices, Venero says Future Tech still makes about 20 percent more margin in home sales than in its commercial deals, due to the nature of the products and the amount of high-touch services required to keep customers happy. The company also plans to launch "Executivetoys.com," an e-tail site with product reviews and executive interviews. Outside of its corporate connections, Future Tech draws residential work through the service work it provides to Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Fujitsu, as well as through its own break-fix center.

"The person in the home doesn't necessarily understand how technology works," Venero says. "If the cable goes down, they assume it's a technical problem. You're going to make more profit in the home, but you have to provide a higher level of service."

- Jeff O'Heir Digital Connect