TechColumbus Recruits Ryan Hughes to Lead Platform Lab

(Columbus, OH – September 16, 2011) – TechColumbus announced today that Ryan Hughes will lead and manage the growth of its cloud computing services arm - Platform Lab (www.platformlab.org) - which provides companies flexible and easy access to IT infrastructure for development, testing, backup and training. As director, Hughes will set the strategy for the organization’s new and existing services, including simulated load testing, cloud computing, and disaster recovery.

“We are excited to have Ryan leading Platform Lab and growing its service capabilities that Fortune 500 to medium-to-small-sized companies from all over the nation rely on for their IT development and testing needs,” said Ted Ford, president and CEO of TechColumbus. “Ryan’s background and extensive expertise in cloud-based services is a perfect fit for Platform Lab’s future growth strategy.”

Hughes’ experience includes co-founding cloud-based services company Skygone, which provides high-performance virtual environment solutions to the geographic information systems (GIS) mapping market.  Prior to Skygone, he managed a team of proposal and project managers at California-based software company Esri, the GIS industry’s leading commercial software company.

Platform Lab’s IT development and testing facility provides on-demand access to IT infrastructure for testing, cloud computing, development and projects. Platform Lab creates custom private infrastructure configured to a customer’s precise specifications. Robust testing leads to improved processes, higher quality applications, better performance, fewer mistakes and less waste.

Hughes is a graduate of Bowling Green State University with a bachelor of arts in GIS and an MBA from Penn State University. He resides in Dublin, Ohio with his family. 

About TechColumbus (www.techcolumbus.org)
TechColumbus is a nonprofit organization that focuses on technology-based economic development in the 15 counties of central Ohio. TechColumbus accomplishes this by:

•    Providing professional development and technology business assistance to both large and small companies that rely on technology for business success
•    Managing a 62,000 square foot technology business incubator that has been recognized as one of the best in the country
•    Managing TechStart, the Central Ohio Entrepreneurial Signature Program, with a mission to create, finance and launch new tech companies in central Ohio
•    Assisting in the development of facilities for tech companies
•    Working with state and local organizations to attract new tech companies to the region

For more information about TechColumbus visit www.techcolumbus.org.

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