Atrion, RhodeOne form new small-biz IT firm

PAWTUCKET – Atrion Networking Corp. of Warwick and RhodeOne Technology Solutions of Pawtucket have formed a joint venture, Atrion Networking SMB LLC, to provide full-service tech support to small and medium-sized businesses.
Atrion Networking SMB will focus on networking, servers, operating systems, wireless, security, and voice and unified communications, as well as support for third-party services such as Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and CRM, and BlackBerry smart phones.
The new venture, which was incorporated last December, has its offices in Pawtucket’s Hope Artiste Village.
Atrion said it decided to start the joint venture after it conducted 18 months of research, including more than 200 in-person interviews with business owners that found small and mid-sized firms were suffering from a lack of resources to deal with their IT needs.
Industry veteran Rick Norberg, who co-founded RhodeOne in 2002 as Maximum Messaging Inc., will be president of both Atrion Networking SMB and RhodeOne. He called the joint venture “a one-of-a-kind opportunity.” •