“Receiving this distinction by the Business Review is truly an honor,” stated John D. Flory III, Vice President of Sales. “At TAG Solutions we strive for excellence in all facets of our work and this recognition is very motivating for the entire team.

“We are deeply honored to be recognized by the Business Review,” said Russell Harnish, Vice President of Operations. “Product and service quality tops the list of our customers’ most critical requirements. I want to thank TAG Solutions’ employees for their continued commitment to providing our customers with the best total customer experience.”

But TAG Solutions is not resting on its laurels and have recently launched three (3) new practice areas. Those areas include; Security and Compliance, Virtualization and Optimization, and Storage and Data Management.

This strategic refocus will help the company capitalize on the dramatic growth in these market segments, meet the needs of its growing client base and leverage the skills of its team. Additionally, each of these practice areas will be delivered through Managed Services, a method for delivering technology services that is lightweight, proactive and more cost-effective than hiring additional employees.

“By realigning our solution portfolio with the greatest market opportunity and the most critical needs of our clients, TAG Solutions has solidified itself as the Capital District’s leading technology provider,” said Reg Harnish, Product Manager. “Our solutions allow us to meet the needs of both the largest corporate client and the smallest community customer.”

“Achieving this milestone is a major accomplishment for us. This reflects TAG Solution’s commitment to ensure our team has the critical skills and world-class products and services to meet the diverse needs of our clients,” Shaun Mahoney, CEO NextRidge concluded.

ABOUT TAG SOLUTIONS
TAG Solutions was established in 1991 to meet increasing demands for sophisticated and economical business communications products and services. Today, the company employs more than 80 professionals and is recognized as the premier business communications company in Upstate and Central New York. It is the voice and data solutions provider of choice for many New York State businesses, colleges and universities, health care facilities, and municipalities.

Albany, NY (August 7, 2007) TAG Solutions, a leading provider of data, voice and technology infrastructure services to businesses and organizations throughout Upstate and Central New York, announced today that they have been recognized at ShoreTel’s Annual Partner Summit for delivering “World Class Customer Satisfaction”. This designation results from client satisfaction surveys conducted by ShoreTel after TAG Solutions installs a new ShoreTel IP telephony system.

During the reporting period from May 1, 2006 through April 30, 2007, TAG Solutions posted an average customer satisfaction score of 93 percent, ranking the firm in the top 5 percent of more than 400 ShoreTel partners worldwide. The score reflects a world-class level of professionalism and customer care in network assessment, system design, project management, end-user training and post-sale follow-up.

“We are thrilled about our record of customer satisfaction and are proud to be a ShoreTel partner,” said Steve Fredette, vice president and general manager of TAG Solutions. “Achieving this customer satisfaction rating underscores our unwavering commitment to our clients, and reflects TAG Solutions’ promise to ensure our team has world-class products and services to meet their diverse needs.”

“It is partners like you that insure that our customers are not only satisfied, but delighted with ShoreTel’s products and services,” said Joe Vitalone, vice president of sales for ShoreTel. “Our mission has always been to deliver innovative products that deliver real business solutions to our customers, ensuring that they are delighted with their phone system. Working with superb channel partners such as TAG Solutions helps us fulfill this mission.”

ShoreTel Pure IP telephony systems provide customers with a number of key benefits, including ease of use, manageability and lower total cost of ownership than alternative solutions. ShoreTel’s distributed software architecture and switched-based hardware platform extend enterprise-class voice services to every office and outpost, keeping employees fully connected wherever they go.

TAG Solutions was established in 1991 to meet increasing demands for sophisticated and economical business communications products and services. In 2006, the company was named “Small Business of the Year” by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, TAG Solutions was listed as one of Fortune Magazine’s “Fastest Growing Companies” for three consecutive years.

Albany, NY TAG Solutions, a leading provider of data, voice and technology infrastructure services to businesses and organizations throughout Upstate and Central New York, announced today that they have completed the accreditation training and certification requirements for Nortel Communications Server 1000. As an accredited partner, TAG Solutions is certified to sell and support the Nortel large enterprise CS-1000 Voice-over-IP platform in the northeast United States. TAG Solutions achieved partner status by meeting all coursework and exam requirements in the design, engineering, implementation, configuration and support of the Nortel CS-1000 product line. The accreditation process was comprised of 9 courses and 31 individual certifications and took nearly a year to complete.”

“Achieving this accreditation is a major strategic initiative for us. This reflects TAG Solution’s commitment to ensure our team has the critical skills and world-class products and services to meet the diverse needs of our clients,” said Steve Fredette, Vice President and General Manager of TAG Solutions.

“We have a long tradition of providing exemplary support of a wide range of business technology to our clients. Becoming CS-1000 accredited allows us to bring a world-class VoIP platform to our largest enterprise customers” said John Flory, Vice President of Sales for TAG Solutions. “Moving into this space is an exciting step forward for TAG Solutions and we are thrilled to be partnering with Nortel.” Communication Server 1000 is a server-based, full-featured IP telephone system that supports over 22,000 stations. CS 1000 users realize the benefits of a converged voice and data network and can leverage advanced call center, messaging and call handling applications.

“TAG Solutions has been very successful in supporting their customers with Nortel solutions,” stated Eric Schoch, Vice President; Nortel North America Marketing, Channels & Distribution. “Achieving this accreditation is a direct result of their knowledge of Nortel products and services and their commitment to excellent client support with the best possible technology.”

TAG Solutions was established in 1991 to meet increasing demands for sophisticated and economical business communications products and services and in 2006, TAG Solutions was named “Small Business of the Year” by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, Today, the company employs more than 60 professionals and is recognized as the premier business communications company in Upstate and Central New York and is the voice and data solutions provider of choice for many New York State businesses, colleges and universities, health care facilities, and municipalities.

Nortel Networks is a global leader in networking and communications solutions and infrastructure for service providers and corporations. The Company is at the forefront of transforming how the world communicates, exchanges information and profits from the high-performance Internet through capabilities spanning Optical Long Haul Networks, Wireless Networks and Metro Networks. Nortel Networks does business in more than 150 countries and can be found on the Web at www.nortelnetworks.com.

Albany, NY Citing Community Caregivers own motto “lending neighbors a helping hand,” TAG Solutions, a leading provider of data, voice and technology infrastructure services to businesses and organizations throughout Upstate and Central New York, has donated and installed a new Tadiran Emerald Integrated Communications Exchange (ICE) phone system for the organization.

“To be a great company, one must first be a good company, and that means contributing to the communities in which we operate,” said Steve Fredette, Vice President and General Manager of TAG Solutions. “TAG Solutions is proud to be able to ‘lend a communications hand’ to Community Caregivers and be part of the important work they do in the region.”

The Emerald ICE phone system is a fully integrated digital phone system designed to offer small businesses and organizations many of the features and functionality of far larger, enterprise telephone systems.

“We learned that Community Caregiver had recently relocated to a new facility, but their telephones were each connected directly to an outside line. This caused increased costs and far less flexibility to expand their organization and services to the community,” said Fredette. “This new phone system not only meets their immediate needs but will grow with them as the organization grows.”

“On behalf of all of us at Community Caregivers, I want to thank TAG Solutions for their generous contribution of time, talent, and a much-needed phone system. Their gracious gift will certainly go to good use,” said Diane Cameron, Executive Director for Community Caregivers.

TAG Solutions was founded in 1991 to meet increasing demands for sophisticated and economical business communications products and services and in 2006, was named “Small Business of the Year” by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce. Today, the company employs more than 60 professionals and is recognized as the premier business communications company in Upstate and Central New York.

Community Caregivers, located in Altamont, is in its thirteenth year as a unique volunteer organization providing essential services to residents of Bethlehem, Guilderland, New Scotland, Berne and Knox. Services include transportation to doctors and other appointments, assistance with shopping, assistance to family caregivers, and temporary light housekeeping. Individuals and families provide the volunteer services..

Founded in 1994 Community Caregivers currently has 530 volunteers, and in 2006 they accumulated more than 5600 hours of service time, working the equivalent of 20 days each month.

Community Caregivers is located at 6378 Gun Club Road, Altamont, NY 12009. If you would like to volunteer your time or services they can be reached at www.communitycaregivers.org or by phone at 518.861-5181.

Albany, NY (July 6, 2007) TAG Solutions, an Albany, NY- based business technology integration firm, announced today an agreement to acquire Technical Business Solutions (TBS), an information/business technology firm based in Schenectady, NY. “This transaction combines two solid, very well-run companies. It will directly benefit our existing clients, and positions TAG Solutions for substantial growth opportunities in the marketplace,” said Steve Fredette, vice president and general manager of TAG Solutions. “TBS has a strong track record, great employees and an identical commitment to differentiation through stellar customer service.” According to Fredette, the acquisition of TBS will enable TAG Solutions to enhance services to small to medium business (SMB) clients through the use of TBS’s existing Managed Services methodology.

“This acquisition expands TAG Solutions’ capabilities to serve a broader market segment than either of our firms could serve before,” he said. “Managed Services can provide an effective outsource solution for a small company’s Information Technology support. For larger companies, Managed Services can address specific needs, such as management of firewalls, servers and network security.” Under the terms of the agreement, TBS will become part of TAG Solutions. Randy Zielinski, co-founding partner of TBS, will serve as general manager of TAG Solutions’ newly formed Small/Medium Business Market and Managed Services Business division. Chris Dunleavy, Zielinski’s co-founding partner at TBS, will serve as director of operations for the new division.

“We very proud to join the TAG Solutions team,” Zielinski said. “This move will directly benefit our existing customers as they will have access to a far more robust array of services and technology expertise. This acquisition also affords our combined teams’ significant market expansion opportunities.”

The TBS acquisition also represents an important strategic growth milestone for NextRidge, Inc., the parent company of Tag Solutions, according to Shaun Mahoney, NextRidge, Inc. CEO. “This acquisition adds a critical component to the array of TAG Solutions services; at the same time, it supports directly the overarching growth strategy of NextRidge, Inc.,” Mahoney said. “We are building a portfolio of companies whose mission is to take people and organizations to the next level. Bringing TBS, a recognized regional leader in managed technology services, into the fold is a direct reflection of that mission.”

Technical Business Solutions (TBS) was established in 1999 and provides technology solutions for data, voice and network security via managed IT services, business telephone systems and cabling for small to medium sized businesses in the Upstate, New York. The company employs 15 people and had revenues of $1.7 million in 2006. TBS’offices in Schenectady will serve as the headquarters for the Small/Medium Business Market and Managed Services Business division.

TAG Solutions was founded in 1991 to meet increasing demands for sophisticated yet economical business communications products and services. The company recorded revenues of more than $8 million in 2006. Recognized as the premier business communications company in Upstate and Central New York, TAG Solutions employs more than 60 professionals. In 2006, the firm was named “Small Business of the Year” by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Albany, NY (May 30, 2007) TAG Solutions announced today that Sales Engineer Joel Katz has been named the second highest performing ShoreTel Sales Representative in the Northern United States for the fourth quarter of 2006. This distinction was based on channel sales among 325 partner firms in North America.

Mr. Katz has been with TAG Solutions for four years and has been the driving force behind their success with ShoreTel. In his current role Joel serves as TAG Solutions’ Senior ShoreTel engineer.

Mr. Katz has 25 years of telecom and IT engineering experience including extensive telephone system engineering, implementation and support experience. Prior to joining the TAG Solution team Joel was with the Center for Disability Services where he led all voice and IT networking.

TAG Solutions is the voice and data solutions provider of choice for many New York State businesses, colleges and universities, health care facilities, and municipalities. Established in 1991 to meet increasing demands for sophisticated and economical business communications products and services, the company has seen steady growth in revenues and the breadth and depth of technology product and service solutions offered.

Today, the company employs more than 80 professionals and is recognized as the premier business communications company in Upstate and Central New York. TAG Solutions was named Small Business of the Year” for 2006 by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, and was listed on the Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies list for 3 years in row.

ShoreTel is a leading provider of IP telephony solutions worldwide and is well known for exceptional customer satisfaction. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, ShoreTel’s unique architectural approach to IP telephony delivers unmatched reliability, scalability and manageability, plus a user interface that sets the standard for ease-of-use.

Albany, NY TAG Solutions, a leading provider of data, voice and technology infrastructure services to businesses and organizations throughout Upstate and Central New York, has achieved Gold Partner status with Symantec, the recognized global leader in software and services that address risks to security, availability, compliance, and performance.

TAG Solutions achieved the Gold Partner rating, second only to Platinum Partner, based on its demonstrated experience in Symantec’s technologies and after completing a rigorous application and certification process. Requirements include comprehensive sales trainings for TAG technicians and management staff, presentation of a security-specific business plan and strategy, achievement of revenue targets from $250K – $2 million per year and submission of monthly progress reports to Symantec management. TAG Solutions is one of only two companies in the Capital Region recognized as Symantec Gold Partners.

“Achieving Gold Partner status with Symantec reflects TAG Solution’s commitment to ensure our team has the critical skills and world-class products and services to meet the diverse needs of our clients,” said Steve Fredette, vice president and general manager of TAG Solutions. “We are privileged to work with Symantec, and we look forward to enhancing this relationship to support the growth of our partnership and, most importantly, the clients we serve. The hard work and dedication of the TAG Solutions team made this great accomplishment possible, and the Gold Partner label provides immediate and well-earned industry-wide credibility for our company.”

Symantec, which is based in California and has operations in 40 countries, provides a broad range products and services to help customers protect their infrastructure, information, and interactions by delivering software and services that address risks to security, availability, compliance, and performance. The company focuses on client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and VPN, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and email filtering, as well as security outsourcing.

Gold Partner designation affords TAG Solutions greater access to the range of Symantec’s offerings, including industry-leading marketing, sales, and technical resources as well as partnering opportunities to better serve clients’ needs. TAG Solutions adds Gold Partner to an impressive list of industry certifications and partnerships, which include Nortel, ShoreTel, Cisco, Citrix and Microsoft, among others.

“We recognize that leadership in the intensely competitive technology environment requires partnerships with only the best companies,” Fredette said. “The TAG Solutions-Symantec relationship is a shining example.”

TAG Solutions was established in 1991 to meet increasing demands for sophisticated and economical business communications products and services. Since then, the company has seen steady growth in revenues and the range of technology solutions offered. Today, the company employs more than 80 professionals and is recognized as the premier business communications company in Upstate and Central New York. TAG Solutions was named “Small Business of the Year” for 2006 by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, and was listed on the Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies list for 3 years in row.

TAG Solutions is the voice and data solutions provider of choice for many New York State businesses, colleges and universities, health care facilities, and municipalities.