Telarus

Telarus was founded in June 2002[2] in Huntington Beach, California by Adam Edwards and Patrick Oborn. The focus of the company was to offer improved service to commercial telecommunications clients.

Operating originally as a telecommunications reseller, Telarus generated leads using web and search engine marketing. They followed up on each lead, contacted the T1 carrier for pricing, and compiled each quote by hand.[3]

Frustrated by this slow and cumbersome process of gathering information for prospective customers, Edwards and Oborn realized that to achieve scale, automation of price quoting was required. Oborn, who studied electrical and computer engineering at Brigham Young University,[4] and had experience as the web master of Cognigen, recognized the potential of an automated sales process, and he set out with Edwards to do the same for commercial telecom pricing research.[5]

In 2003, Oborn designed the initial concept for what was to be called GeoQuote[6] - software that allows a user to access multiple carrier price options with a single search. Oborn partnered with Aaron Lieberman to write the code that could compute pricing based upon loop distance (the distance from the customer's central office to the carrier point of presence) or through direct access to a carrier pricing Application Programming Interface (API).[7]

Sample output of a T1 price quote as shown on ShopforT1.com

The prototype of GeoQuote was completed in August 2003.[8] The software was embedded in Telarus' public-facing, real-time price research tool called ShopforT1.com.[9]

In November 2003, Telarus, Inc. filed for a United States provisional patent to protect the idea and coding architecture behind the GeoQuote concept. On September 30, 2004 Telarus filed the non-provisional patent application, which was accepted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 24, 2009. GeoQuote is now protected by US Patent Number(s) 7,496,184[10] and 7,916,844[11]

In 2008, the company announced that it was adding the world's first fiber route mapping capabilities to GeoQuote.[12]

As of April 14, 2018, GeoQuote provides pricing for the following telecom products: cable high-speed internet, business DSL, data T1, bonded T1, data DS3, wireless 3G, local voice / PRI, integrated voice/data, integrated SIP, long distance T1/DS3, Ethernet over copper, and Hosted PBX.[13]

On May 20, 2011, Telarus relocated its headquarters to Centennial Plaza Tower in Sandy, Utah.[14]

In 2014, in an effort to appeal to more IT Solution Providers, MSPs, and phone system VARs, Telarus added two new programs: Engineering and Customer Base Management.[15]

In 2015, Telarus acquired the VXSuite assets of LVM, Inc., and begun offering free monitoring on all carrier circuits sold through their supplier agreements. Telarus also incorporated several members of the VXSuite management team into its own.[16]

In 2017, Telarus acquired rival master agent, CarrierSales, in an all-stock transaction. The deal increased both the staff and revenue of Telarus by 50%. As of April 2018, Telarus is the largest privately held master agent in the United States.[17] Richard Murray, president of CarrierSales, is now the COO of the combined Telarus.[18]

On December 1, 2020, Telarus announced that it had partnered with Columbia Capital, a private equity firm specializing in internet infrastructure, enterprise IT, and mobility solution investments. The deal gives Columbia Capital a minority stake in the company and represents the first time the three main owners (Edwards, Oborn, and Murray) have sold stock to an outside firm. The company plans to use their new access to capital to grow both organically and inorganically.[19]

In 2018 Telarus launched its brand in Australia under the name "Tradewinds". In so doing it became the first American master agency to launch the indirect sales model in Australia. Tradewinds is run by Sydney native, Tony Heywood.[20]

In July 2019 Telarus announced it had hired Brian Ochab as the RVP of Canada.[21] Four months later, in November 2019, Telarus formerly launched its brand into Canada, making it the first master agency to establish itself in Canada with a native Canadian at the helm.

In October 2019, Telarus expanded into the U.K. with the hire of Greg McVey as its Regional Vice President. The official launch of the U.K., and consequently Europe, took place on 18 April 2020.[22]

Telarus carries contracts with 251 business telecom, cloud, and security providers, including:

Members of the Telecom Association voted Telarus the best master agent in 2017, 2015, 2012,[39][40] 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008.[41]