As we all gave our final farewells to 2011, 2012 made a grand entrance for our team at Varvid as we received a capital investment from our new partners Brad and Arlin Sorensen. Before Varvid set sail into the open seas of 2012, Arlin Sorensen and Brad Schow traveled to our hometown Bellingham, Washington to take our staff through what’s called a “SWOT” which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This three day program unraveled our entire company by exploring all the systems and structures by which we operate, and through constructive discussion we produced numerous goals which we’re set on meeting within the next three months to prepare our company for significant long term growth.

Directly after the SWOT, Varvid’s President Mike Simmons and Business Development Director Drew Graham traveled to Dallas, Texas to attend a leadership meeting lead by Dan Weston of the Weston Group, who works as a coach for Gazelles Inc. which is a company that provides executive education, coaching and technology services to help mid-market companies around the world build and execute a strategic plan.

Two books were handed out at the event, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish, and Execution Without Drama by Patrick Thean. Overall, Mike and Drew noticed an strong affinity between the business resources and tactics Gazelle had to offer and the strategies laid out by Arlin and Brad from HTG. This affirmation of our current goals and focus was just another positive reinforcement to Varvid’s new path and has been very encouraging as our steps into the future are developing into leaps and bounds.

Video production company’s executive leadership also expanded to enable twin focus on day-to-day execution and advanced services opportunities

HARLAN, Iowa / BELLINGHAM, Wa. – Jan. 16, 2012 – In a move typical of Heartland Technologies CEO and Founder Arlin Sorensen, the industry veteran is once again betting on the future of the IT channel. What’s perhaps unusual this go-around is that he and his brother Brad are doing it with their own cash. The pair is making a sizeable financial commitment to Varvid, a digital media services company, as part of a strategic alliance aimed at expanding business-changing educational content via an online video platform.

“Our interest in Varvid enables us to offer a wide array of digital media services to HTG Peer Group members either through real-time, interactive sessions or on-demand programming that’s not only available when they want to receive it, but how they want to receive it,” said Arlin. “I’m a big believer that digital communication is going to be the separator between those that do well in the marketplace and those that don’t.”

Industry research firm IDC, which recently reported that the online video platform market is estimated to grow from $306 million in 2010 to over $1 billion by 2015, validates Arlin’s view of the situation. And with the convergence of social media and TV services still in its infancy, further integration is expected to create ongoing opportunities.

The investment from the Sorensen brothers allows Varvid to hasten its growth in size and services by utilizing assets and personnel from both Heartland Technology Consulting (HTC) and Heartland Technology Solutions (HTS). Most notably, the company plans to broaden its support of event services including turnkey solutions related to staging, lighting, sound and multi-camera coverage for both live and on-demand viewership.

Varvid will also continue to build its existing video production services, while increasing its business offerings to provide all-inclusive social media strategies and digital media marketing solutions. These services will include online video production via remote editing, video hosting, live webcasting, online marketing campaigns, email newsletters, website integration, content generation for social media sites and professional on-site video production.

“Everyone thought the Internet was great in 1999, and it was, but they really didn’t have any idea where it could and would go at that time,” said Aaron Booker, Varvid CEO and co-founder.

“We’re at a stage now with digital media services that parallels those early days of the Internet and it’s thrilling to be at the forefront of that next technology wave.”

Varvid began as a production company helping businesses leverage their online presence through video testimonials, case studies and “live” event coverage. The company also pioneered “Video-as-a-Service” by allowing organizations of all sizes access to the power of online digital media through a number of custom hybrid solutions, integrating both a professional and do-it-yourself approach. In addition to these services, Varvid offers a range of social media solutions aimed at helping businesses expand their online presence through emerging digital platforms and social media outlets.

Focused on the Future

To ensure the company addresses the needs of its customers today and into the future, Varvid has realigned its leadership team. Aaron Booker, formerly president and co-founder, will now lead the company as its chief executive officer with responsibility for developing strategic relationships and driving corporate innovation. Mike Simmons, former Varvid creative director and co-founder, replaces Booker as president, and will oversee the company’s day-to-day business operations. Both Arlin and Brad Sorensen will also join Varvid’s board of directors.

About Varvid

Varvid is an Internet Delivered Video production, distribution and management company that builds IT brands by creating superior timely, powerful, and affordable online video solutions for clients. 
Products & services include case studies, business testimonials, video-enabled email, live webcasting, event coverage, and the newly released “VENUE” video packages – an affordable subscription-based service that features everything clients need to get started in

producing quality online videos for their business. The company also provides all-inclusive social media strategies and digital media marketing solutions as well as viewership metrics for popular social networks including YouTube, Facebook, other platforms and client websites.

Varvid has produced hundreds of recorded and live streaming videos for clients at locations around the world, as well as dozens of testimonial video montages for technology firms, events and trade shows. For more information, visit: www.Varvid.com and www.Varvid.TV

About HTG Peer Groups

Established in 2000 by Arlin Sorensen as a business and personal development community, today HTG Peer Groups is an international organization of leading IT solution providers. HTG has more than 250 member companies throughout North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia/New Zealand. Each peer group consists of 10-12 IT company executives who work together and share resources and information to formulate and meet business goals such as strategic planning, process improvement and tools, and life-work excellence. HTG offers CEO Forums, vendor peer groups and other educational events, quarterly meetings, and an annual summit that attracts hundreds of attendees, vendor exhibitors and strategic partners. Visit www.htgpeergroups.com or call 712-744-3619 for more information.

About Heartland Technologies Solutions (HTS)

For 25 years, the HTS team has served the IT needs of businesses throughout the Midwest and now has a diverse set of specializations, including Infrastructure Service & Support, Unified Communications, Document Management, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery, Precision Agriculture and K-12 Education. HTS is highly regarded in the vendor community and has strong partnerships with Microsoft, HP and SonicWALL. HTS has seven locations across the Midwest in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

For more information, please visit www.heartlandtechnologies.com.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Lynette Bohanan, CommCentric Solutions

lbohanan@commcentric.com / 813-727-0196

www.varvid.com

www.htgpeergroups.com

www.varvid.com

www.htgpeergroups.com

www.varvid.com

www.htgpeergroups.com

www.varvid.com

www.htgpeergroups.com

Pat Dolan from Varvid chats with John Fago, Senior Director of Channel Marketing at VTN, about the VTN Fall Invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada. John says he’s excited to be there with over 800 attendees of the event to share a lot of great content focusing on helping people grow their business. There’s a lot of collaboration between VTN members and vendors, all working on the future of VTN, coming up with a strategy for going forward, and getting on the ground floor with partners to find out exactly what they’re looking for.

John talks about the role community plays in VTN‘s Invitations, he says it’s VTN‘s job to set the table for deals to happen and form there they can bring in the right people, with the right resources to make everything happen. Today VTN hosted a welcome reception for all the attendees with a football theme encouraging attendees to wear their favorite team’s jersey, and everyone’s getting together to break the ice before the event really gets started.

Harry Brelsford from SMB Nation closes this years’ fall conference in Las Vegas with this short address. Harry talks about some of the things that really stood out to him, like the composition of the show. With the addition of new channel partners and groups who weren’t familiar with Small Business Server to this years proceedings (new attendees made up about 1/4 of the show) Harry saw the SMB Nation culture and community develop in a positive way and become a more robust demographic.

Another notable aspect of this event was people responded well the the venue of the event, the Rio in Las Vegas, which is much better set up in a more compact way than in prior years, and they’ve signed a multiyear contract with the Hotel, so they’ll be back for more!

The main attribute of this years event that made it so memorable was the content itself. This year SMB Nation made a commitment to have over two-thirds of their content technical, and may up this percentage to three quarters next year, because Harry says while the business courses had robust audiences, the technical classes had over filled rooms, additional chairs had to be brought in, and there were long waiting lists so it makes a lot of sense to Harry to emphasize the technical aspect. Harry says this is great for the SMB Nation, so they can focus on what they do best, getting their geek on!

Former Autotask Senior VP and Lenovo SMB channel leader Jay McBain catches up with Clinton Gatewood, VP of Corporate Business Development at VU Telepresence, about current events in his business and his experience at SMB Nation 2011. VU Telepresence have been refining their product for 4 years now, and just released it about 12 months ago. They have 3,500 units in the field and they’re all about democratizing telepresence and video conferencing around the globe, not just in the US. VU Telepresence currently has 250 partners worldwide and they also have recently distributing through D&H and it’s going very well for them. They’re focused on small to medium sized businesses and this is the size range that most people at SMB Nation work with and Clinton finds it’s a community that has high demand for a telepresence solution.

Clinton explains how telepresence is becoming a mandatory technology in small to medium sized businesses as it allows business owners and leaders to work on their business, rather than in it. By being able to meet with their clients and people all over the globe, the telepresence on the big screen melts time and space away. Clinton then demonstrates the telepresence system by speaking with a partner in Mumbai, India and makes a point that he’s running this system with extremely low bandwidth (thanks to all the attendees of SMB Nation) he estimates a speed of about 250 to 300 kilobits, and his system went to India and back in real time.

To find out more visit: www.vutelepresence.com or search Vu Telepresence on D&H.

Drew Graham from Varvid speaks with John Iasiuolo about the Outlook Foundation. The Outlook Foundation is an organization that aims to bring technology to low income families, this internet access at home will give the children of these families an opportunity to keep up with peers who are in a more favorable socioeconomic position. Outlook also provides Lenovo netbooks to military families, which allows soldiers to communicate with their family members whenever they’d like, without having to schedule appointments.

John recalls how he spoke with SMB Nation‘s Harry Brelsford about the Outlook Foundation at a breakfast, and Harry was so moved by their mission that he gave them the Charity organization of the year status to help their cause, and SMB Nation has dedicated themselves to finding the volunteers, resources, and technology to aid Outlook in realizing their dream. John says the help he’s received from the community has been incredible, with people donating both their time, money and technology resources.