By Jim Obert

Business Today

In the mid-1990s, Jason Eftink was running a window company in Chicago and his brother, Shawn Eftink, was working there for IBM. The two wanted to start a technology-based business and locate it in Southeast Missouri, where they had family and friends.

In August 1997, Technology And Networking began to take shape in a back room of a house in Scott City where Jason Eftink lived. The original idea was for the business to be an Internet service provider, but building and repairing computers quickly became the focus.

"I would roll out of bed, get to work and almost wouldn't see the outside world for weeks," said Eftink, president of the company. "I was doing some Website designs while trying to keep up with the PC work that was piling up."

Eftink said one of the reasons he and his brother chose Scott City was "because people around here tend to give you a shot at business." That proved true. The home-based business soon moved into a building on Second Street.

Danny and Michele Vinyard became co-owners, vice president and secretary, respectively.

Repairs and upgrades of PCs faded as the company moved into network designs and implementations. The company provides fiberoptic cabling installation, phone cable installation, and uses hubs, switches, routers and networking cards manufactured by 3Com, Intel and Cisco Systems.

The company also installs relay racks and patch panels for easy wiring management and expansion, and installs and configures network operating software on servers and work stations.

Technology and Networking designs local area networks (LANs) with computer equipment supplied by Hewlett-Packard, Epson, Cisco and 3Com.

According to Eftink, the company also specializes in customer relations management solutions.

"That's the way a company keeps track of their customers such as through interoffice email and Goldmine and Front Office Solutions software that handles communications," he said. "So we start from the ground up with cabling the network infrastructure, go to software implementation and training."

Eftink says the company regularly services businesses within a 70-mile radius; however, customers such as Sikeston-based Galaxy Cablevision and Montgomery First National Bank often require help at branch offices in St. Louis and Indianapolis.

Area schools are regular customers. The company recently finished work at the new Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center on Silver Springs Road. Employees laid fiberoptic cabling, installed cable trays and data racks, and placed data jacks in the walls.

"We've done work for most every school district around here," said Eftink, adding that his company has submitted a bid for infrastructure work at the new high school that is being built on Silver Springs Road.

Major accounts also include Saint Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Eftink says Technology And Networking does "a ton of work in Sikeston and Cape" and is looking for opportunities in Illinois. It has done work at the gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, Ky.

The company sometimes partners with other firms, and a deal with Radio Shack is being considered.