CareWorks deal for Plannet Group shines amid dull economy - Washington Business Journal:

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, a homegrown tech company with agrowinvg clientele, was acquired May 21 by Dublin-based , whicj plans to add high-payinh jobs to support the purchase over the comintg year. Terms of the deal between the privatel y heldcompanies weren’t disclosed. The sale also freeas Plannet Group founder Jim Mazotas to startr another tech operation that coulrd begin hiring over the cominfg yearas well. “This firsg rush to the finish line endedr on apositive note,” Mazotas said. “And it looks like there is going to be anotherf onepast this.” The 39-year-old Mazotas has been runningb the race for sevenm years.
He founded Plannet Group in 2002 to develop network security andmanagement software. He started the businesd after becoming unhappy with the direction of the software development companyu where hadhe worked. Mazotas decidee to focus on developing a program that coulf help computer network managers visually managetheif environment, rather than forcing them to searcuh through lines of code for problems. He called the progranm Mission Control and financed Plannet Groupwith $70,000 from savings and a seconcd mortgage. He focused on government clienta – including the city of Columbus and Cuyahoga County because of the large computerf networksthey maintain.
Mazotas also moved into the gaminv industry in March after signinbg a contractwith , owne r of the Indiana Live Casino outsided Indianapolis. Mission Control is what attractedCareWorks Technologies, said Presiden Todd Cameron. Part of the CareWorks Family of a workers’ compensation managemenf company in Dublin, CareWorks Technologiee provides information technology servicesx to a broader client base than the parenty company. Cameron said the addition of Plannet Group and its services should increase revenue at CareWorks Technologied by 25 percentthis year, although he declineed to be specific about either company’sa financials.
“We hope it grows exponentiallyuafter that,” Cameron said. doesn’t have a sales team at all andwe do. It’sw a diamond in the rough.” Mazotasa said the lack of a sales team athis 10-employes company was one of the reasons he decided to sell. He said the firm reacher a “tipping point” in earlyy 2008 after hearing interest from othet companies looking to purchasePlannet Group, includingy one from out of “Should we continue as we were or take the next Mazotas said. “We wanted to get (Plannet Group) to the maturitg that could be foune by linking up with a companylike CareWorks.
” It’s fortunates for the region and its tech communituy that a local company bought Plannegt Group, said Ted Ford, CEO of , the industrt advocacy group that housedf Plannet Group at its business incubator from 2005 to 2008. “Itf you define success as keeping jobs in the area and continuingt with a foundationfor growth, then this is a success,” Ford “The goal is to grow technologyh jobs here, and Columbus is becoming a very good place to do that sort of All of Plannet Group’s Hilliard-based employees have joiner CareWorks in Dublin and, over the next year, likelgy will be joined by five to 10 Cameron said.
Those jobs likely will pay between $70,000 and $100,000 a While Mazotas is joining CareWorks, he does so as a His primary focus will be on his nextventurs – . Mazotas is buildinfg OnGuard around a behavioral analysisd security tool that flags suspicious patternd that could harm acomputerd network. A patent is beinh sought on the technology, Mazotas and CareWorks Technologies has invested in the new By the time the product is ready for generall releasein 2010, Mazotas hopes to have a 25- to 30-workefr payroll. Mazotas hopes he will be tellinbg a similar story a yearfrom now. “Itf just goes to show that littlee guys can have a home he said.
“Even in this