Ednetics Inc., a Post Falls company that designs, deploys, and services high-tech communication systems for the education sector, is enjoying strong growth and plans to expand next year.


The 7-year-old company creates infrastructure packages of voice, computer, and video equipment that it sells to schools across the Northwest. To date, the company has worked in about 150 school buildings in Washington, Idaho, and Montana.


Education is such a tight community, says owner and President Shawn Swanby. If you do a good job the word spreads pretty quickly. If you do a bad job, the word of mouth is 10 times as powerful.


Ednetics projects its 2004 revenues will be about $6.5 million, up from $4 million, or more than 60 percent, over last year.


Until this year, the companys revenues have grown between 80 percent and 100 percent annually.


Business is very good and its growing very fast, says Swanby. Those percentages (of growth) are starting to slow down as the revenue numbers get bigger.


Ednetics has 13 employees and leases about 2,400 square feet of floor space at 721 Lochsa in the University of Idaho Research Park. It also has smaller offices in Seattle and Moscow with two and four employees working there, respectively.


The company says it plans to hire about four people at its Post Falls facility in 2005.


It also is contemplating a move to a bigger space in the research park, if one becomes available.


Swanby wants to expand geographically and provide schools across the country with high-tech infrastructure.


Were going to be a large company, he says. We have a mindset that we might be buying other companies because our goal is not to be purchased.


Ednetics sells school districts and some government agencies a large range of products made by other companies. Its packages allow for a rapid exchange of information and ideas, sometimes over great distances, Swanby says.


Ninety-five percent of our customers are in the education market, says Swanby. The company is so busy now it sometimes must turn business away, he says.


It sells computer hardware and software, video conferencing systems, and video-surveillance equipment. The company is a licensed distributor for Cisco Systems Inc., of San Jose, Calif. Swanby declines to disclose any of the details of that relationship, except to say, Its a good relationship to have, but we bring a lot to the table. We have access to local schools and local accounts that Cisco might not be able to reach without us.


Ednetics has no immediate plans to develop its own products.


As you work with technology you start to see the limitations and the holes in it, he says. Its something we have considered, but were not ready to do that.


Ednetics specializes in Internet Protocol or IP, telephony, a relatively new communications application that uses data wiring instead of conventional telephone networks, to exchange voice and fax data. IP telephony allows computer data, such as electronic mail and video images, to be accessed by a special phone unit.


The company installs wireless-computer equipment in buildings.


Ednetics creates building blueprints for wireless networks by surveying buildings to find where radio antennas should be placed and what radio frequencies should be used to make networks viable. It also creates wireless communication bridges between buildings to bypass conventional phone lines.


Ednetics recently connected four buildings in the Post Falls School District for about $20,000, says Jerry Keane, the districts superintendent.


This was in preparation for a project to deliver software to our classrooms, says Keane. It was cheaper than fiber optics, and it appears to be doing what we want. The speed is there and its really good.


Ednetics relies on its reputation and face-to-face sales to be successful.


Weve found that in order to solve our customers problems, we need to be there, he says. So we log a lot of windshield work by driving to clients locations.


The company emphasizes flexibility when its designing an infrastructure package for a school because most dont have big budgets to make major capital improvements, such as installing integrated networks, he says.


Sometimes these things are budgeted out over five years, Swanby says. Each school is unique. You have to design systems that can be added on to.