TechLife Community Builder - Steve Gruetter

Bio:

Steve Gruetter has been Director at Platform Lab since the company’s start in February 2002. Leading the non-profit organization, he has successfully launched an expansion program to bring practical, high-value IT testing capabilities statewide. Currently, Platform Lab has a headquarter location in Columbus, with branches in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo that serve over 185 clients nationally.

He is also heavily involved in promotion of technology and education throughout Ohio as he hosts a dozen non-profit IT knowledge sharing organizations including the Ohio Network for Healthcare Information Assurance, the Contingency Planners of Ohio, the Information Security Systems Association, the VMWare Users Group and the IT Service Management Forum, all at TechColumbus.

Steve was awarded the prestigious ‘LightSpeed Award’ by the Advanced Technology Summit for research, collaboration and leadership in relation to utilization of the Third Frontier Network in 2007. He has also been a nominee in 2004 and 2005 for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and a finalist for the TechColumbus Innovation Award for ‘Outstanding Start-up Business’ in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and ‘Outstanding Service’ in 2005.

Prior to joining Platform Lab, Steve worked for 10 years as a senior business analyst at Dun & Bradstreet in Los Angeles and Columbus.Steve is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University and resides in Hilliard with his wife and two children

What are you passionate about?

I am most passionate about my family, my job and the impact I have on the community through my job, my circle of friends and the Columbus sports scene. Most know me as a dedicated family man, a kids soccer coach, the tireless director of Platform Lab and an over-the-top Buckeye and Crew fan.

What's are the most played songs in your ipod?

Most played songs would be an interesting mix of Ozzy, Sabbath and Dio I put together. Best mix would be a 30-song RUSH selection. Always have time for Zeppelin.

Where did you grow up?

Bounced from Toledo to Columbus to Southern California to Maui and back to olumbus. When I met my wife, I told her that I am going to live the rest of my life in Columbus - and she agreed to make that commitment with me. Columbus is the best place in to world for me to live and grow.

Are there any nonprofits that you volunteer your time to?

Where to start? I am a firm believer in the power of non-profit professional development organizations and try to support their growth whenever possible. I helped found the Ohio Network for Healthcare Information Assurance and sit on the advisory board of Get IT Green Ohio. I work with GroundWork Group, the Central Ohio IT Security Systems Association, VMware users group, Contingency Planners of Ohio, ColumbusTech, IT Martini, Ohio IT Alliance, Central Ohio QA Association and the sister organizations to TechColumbus RGP, The Circuit, Technology First, etc

What events have you organized?

I organize numerous events at TechColumbus and organize 2-3 social events annually to get the IT Community out to blow off some steam.

About my company:

Platform Lab is a division of TechColumbus that provides a competitive advantage to our clients by offering short term physical or remote access to IT hardware, software and massive bandwidth for all types of companies for the explicit purpose of IT testing and projects.

Platform Lab has over 185 clients primarily healthcare organizations, finance and insurance firms, IT consultants, national retailers and software development shops. The most common uses for Platform Lab is load/stress and scalability testing, disaster recovery plan evaluation, IT classroom training and proof-of-concept validation.

The value proposition is clear: if access to IT test infrastructure is exceptionally affordable, more companies will test. Robust testing leads to better processes, better people, higher quality applications, fewer mistakes and less waste from under-utilized assets. Platform Lab is unique to Ohio as the nations only non-profit IT test lab.

Platform Lab provides the best value -- for any company, anywhere -- to conduct IT test projects.