State Invests in Westport Software Startup

After moving to Westport six weeks ago, Weston Software Inc. will now be able to create more technology jobs for Westport and double its staff in the process, thanks to a $500,000 investment from Connecticut Innovations — the state's quasi-public authority responsible for technology investing and innovation development.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced the investment this week and said the Westport-based company's IT infrastructure management platform addresses pain points and offers high levels of efficiency. Weston Software's "PowerTool Suite" develops solutions to streamline the management of multiple computer systems commonly found in large organizations, according to a news release Rell issued Monday. 

"Think of our product as a universal remote control for all the different systems found in an organization," Hank Voight, Weston Software's founder and chief executive officer, said in the release. "The software utilizes task automation, audit and controls to make systems management more efficient, effective and secure."

Reached by phone Monday, Voight said the software could allow a public school system Windows administrator to operate all the Mac computers in the system, see who is logging in, where people are going and can control it remotely. The same is true for financial institutions, Voight said. The software allows, for example, auditors of a credit card agency to generate real-time reports to see who has access to what information.

Voight added the software can be installed and fully operational within hours and does not require any change to the existing IT infrastructure.

"Up until now people had to install agents to have two computers talk to each other and we do it all with what's available out of the box, nothing else has to be installed," he said.

Weston Software Inc. began in 2007 in the basement of Voight's Weston home, after he spent 10 years as an architect for Microsoft. In 2009, he moved his company and its five employees to Southport. About six weeks ago, they moved to 728 Post Road East in Westport.

With the state grant, "I'll be able to pay my employees," Voight said. "I have five people who have been working for free helping me get this to where we are today."

In the next two to three months, Voight also intends to grow the company to more than 10 staffers now that the state has kicked in and owns about 25 percent of the business.

"We want to grow information technology jobs in Westport and throughout Connecticut," Rell said in the release. "Our investment in Weston Software is aimed at helping our state remain competitive in the increasingly technology-oriented global marketplace."

While Weston Software is primarily targeting school systems and financial  institutions, Voight said his product could be a useful tool for towns and cities interested in consolidation because combining IT departments would not require new installations since he works within the existing parameters.

"The introduction of Weston Software's platform is incredibly timely," said Peter Longo, president and executive director of CI. "Given today's challenging economic climate, there is more pressure than ever for organizations to efficiently manage their IT infrastructures and increasingly complex and pervasive business applications. What's more, organizations must adopt new ways to deal with data and information vulnerability. The PowerTool Suite provides a cost-effective solution – an industry-first platform to address these and other pain points."