A New York-based company that provides front-line sales and customer-support people to small technology companies is opening a Spokane office that will be headed by its CEO and from which it plans to market itself on the West Coast.


The company, called Neotech Solutions Inc., is a former professional staffing concern that shifted its main focus early this year to taking on all of its clients customer-side activities so they can concentrate on developing technology, says Ken Echevarria, the companys vice president of marketing.


The 6-year-old company employs a core staff of about 14 people, then hires on contract the others it needs to meet its customers needs, from sales and marketing people to computer network engineers and project managers. Its currently working with about 40 such contractors, who typically work at clients offices and represent themselves as members of a clients team, Echevarria says.


The company also operates a software-development arm in India that employs about 24 people.


So far Neotech has focused on the East Coast, but now is interested in establishing a client base in the Pacific Northwest and later throughout the West Coast, he says. Its founder and CEO, Krishna Reddy, will lead that push, and has moved to Spokane. Reddy says he was ready to leave the hustle and bustle of New York for more quiet surroundings, and began looking at Seattle and Spokane as a possible home. He chose Spokane, because of its smaller size, and has leased space in the Fernwell Building downtown.


Reddy says he expects initially to hire about three people to staff the office, and probably seven more over the next year, including both salespeople and recruiters. The Spokane office then will recruit technology people to help it serve West Coast clients, but he says its unclear yet how many that will be or where they will be based. He says, though, that its likely some will be based here and travel to clients around the West Coast.


Neotechs headquarters will remain in New York City, and its other small office in the United Kingdom will remain active. The company had sales last year of about $3.6 million, Reddy says.


Neotech also will use its new Spokane office as a base from which to help one of its key clients, Framingham, Mass.-based Bandwiz Inc., establish a presence on the West Coast.


Bandwiz, which has developed and now is beginning to market software that helps large companies handle the high volume of data that streams between and within their various locations, has contracted with Neotech to handle all of its direct contact with customers.


Weve incorporated ourselves into Bandwiz. Were a behind-the-scenes company, says Echevarria, who is listed on Bandwizs Web site as director of business development.


Says Bandwiz spokeswoman Leila Dillan, Neotech has been fabulous. They allow us to focus on what we are good atdelivering technology.


She anticipates that Neotech will need salespeople, service technicians, and network engineers to penetrate the West Coast market for Bandwiz.


Echevarria says Neotech will pursue other clients in the Northwest as well.