Planet Technologies and eQuest Technologies Announce Merger
June 3, 2005 – Gaithersburg, MD – Planet Technologies and eQuest Technologies, both IT consulting firms with headquarters in Gaithersburg, MD, have merged. The company will retain the name Planet Technologies.
Planet Technologies was formed in 1997 as a system integration and networking firm focused on the mid-sized enterprise and the federal government. Planet’s areas of expertise includes; strategic IT business consulting, such as enterprise architecture planning; Microsoft deployment solutions; network infrastructure; and security solutions. Planet’s clients include the Department of Energy, U.S. Coast Guard, General Services Administration and Howard County Public Schools.
eQuest Technologies, also founded in 1997, is a Microsoft-based system integration firm with a focus on service providers and enterprises world-wide. eQuest’s areas of expertise include hosted services, provisioning, messaging, workflow and automation and .NET development. eQuest’s clients include many of the worlds largest service providers.
In 1999, the two companies developed a strategic partnership to facilitate business development and knowledge sharing. By leveraging each others strengths, both companies enjoyed significant growth in their businesses. In 2004, the companies decided to merge and began the process.
“We recognized the value of economies of scale and the competitive advantage of a unified message in our partner relationships, marketability and operations,” said Scott Tucker, Planet Technologies president and CEO.
The executive staff of both companies will remain with the merged company. Scott Tucker, founder and CEO of Planet Technologies, remains in this role. Steve Winter, founder and former CEO of eQuest Technologies, is now vice president of Microsoft Consulting.
"This merger allows us to leverage each company's technical talent to offer our clients knowledge leadership in more areas," said Steve Winter.
The newly merged company will create an $11 million systems integrator with 90 employees focused on three key areas; federal, enterprise and service providers. “By combining our consulting and operational teams, we have greatly enhanced our scope of knowledge and expertise which is a tangible benefit for our client base,” Tucker said.
Planet’s headquarters recently moved to a larger office space in Germantown, Maryland. The company will retain their additional offices in Kansas City, Missouri; Redmond, Washington, on the Microsoft campus.
