When it comes to leadership in the American tech industry, the public perception leans toward the Northwest, Silicon Valley, Seattle, and maybe a handful of companies in Oregon. Intermediate techies might name a few developers from Austin, Texas. South Florida has much to offer, as evidenced by these groundbreaking companies:
Based in Fort Lauderdale, Citrix has been a cornerstone of the software industry since 1989. The company was an early pioneer of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. In particular, Citrix has been an early adopter of DaaS, or desktop-as-a-service, with Worx Mobile Apps, Citrix Workspace Suite, and AppDNA. The company became a household name with the release of Citrix WinFrame, a multi-user version of Windows NT. Citrix has a long history of innovating on existing platforms like Windows.
The company sells to the home user market, but they are most popular in the business sector, where products like GoToMeeting and Citrix Workspace Cloud have eased the transition into today’s decentralized and mobile workforces.
Geeks on Site is a computer service company that is based in South Florida with branches across the country, from San Francisco to New York. Geeks on Site offers computer repair, virus protection, server installation and backup solutions, router and firewall configuration, IT support, data recovery, and everything in between to small businesses and households. The company offers makes house calls and provides consultations and solutions to growing businesses throughout the U.S.
What makes a computer repair service a tech industry leader? Geeks on Site is set apart by providing support services to homes and businesses in a variety of industries, including other tech companies. The company uses technology to remote access its customers’ computers, and it has a recognizable fleet of green Smart cars for on-location service calls.
MobileHelp is one of the leading startups in South Florida. Located in Boca Raton, MobileHelp sells to the medically at-risk elderly people who have serious health conditions. They sell an Internet-of-Things connected medical alert device, which is high tech yet easy to use. It’s a plastic box and wearable button that patients press in medical emergencies.
MobileHelp was founded by Scott Adams, who made a name for himself as a major innovator with Hiway Technologies, which he sold to Verio in 2002 for over $350 million. Adams has been an inspiration in the South Florida tech community, proving that it’s not all about flashy gadgets; advanced technology’s primary purpose is to make our lives better, safer, and easier.
Ryder is a transportation company based in Miami. The company is on the frontier of the industry, using the latest tech to orchestrate a three-armed approach to getting people and things where they need to go, including fleet management solutions, dedicated contract carriage, and supply chain solutions. Ryder offers individual truck rentals, but it is primarily a B2B company specializing in large accounts.
Ask techies on the West Coast about trucking and transportation and they might consider it a thing of the past. They have self-driving cars and 3D printers, why would they need long-haul drivers and delivery vans? With tools like Ryder TranSync, a revolutionary automated system for dynamic transportation planning, Ryder leads by example, remaining at the forefront in how they apply technology to an existing business model. Ryder has helped to keep its industry relevant in the face of changing times.