Governor Selects Logic House as One of the “Best and Brightest” of Pennsylvania Companies

Over the course of the past year, Pittsburgh Gateways has helped Logic House, Inc. become an undeniable force in the K-12 enterprise software market. Logic House builds software that helps school districts create inter-connected learning communities that improve how teachers teach, how learners learn, and how school districts function.

While Logic House software offers a compelling alternative to competing software from Apple, Microsoft and NCS Pearson, the company’s market approach could not be more different. Logic House does not sell shrink-wrapped software; nor does it derive revenue from licensing fees. Logic House was founded upon the belief that it is impossible to compete with the industry-leading proprietary software vendors by playing the game according to their rules. Realizing that these companies have the capital, distribution channels and R&D resources to mitigate any competitive threat on their field of play, Logic House devised a value proposition according to a radically different set of rules.

In 2001—as school districts across the country were facing impending budget shortfalls, software licensing audits, and the need to purchase completely new information systems to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 (NCLB)—Logic House introduced the first enterprise solution for NCLB compliance to be licensed under the open-source General Public License (meaning that it was licensed completely free from ongoing fees and restrictive use covenants). This move allows Logic House to offer unprecedented levels of cost savings, control and freedom over the industry-leading proprietary solutions, and enables the company to offer a value proposition that other software vendors simply can not match. As a result, Logic House was able to win 21 school customers away from the industry-leading software vendors within the first year of the company’s pilot season in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Today, almost every school district in Fayette County—as well as various districts throughout the counties of Allegheny, Washington and Somerset—have become motivated to migrate to FreeLOGIC software as a way to eliminate ongoing licensing fees and vendor dependence—providing Logic House with a qualified sales pipeline in excess of $2 million for FY2004.

While school districts large and small have caught on to the comparative benefits of FreeLOGIC software, so too has the State of Pennsylvania. The Governor selected Logic House as one of three companies that was acknowledged at his budget address to the Legislature. In 2003, the Governors Action Team recommended Logic House as a candidate for strategic investment by the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED). The DCED offered Logic House $1,456,000 in grants, tax credits and low interest financing—further validating the company’s ability to shift the basis of competition in the K-12 information technology market—which generates nearly $7 billion annually in the United States.

Gateways has invested funds in Logic House, is assisting with the expansion of its customer base, and has helped to attract the attention of the State. Gateways also helped Logic House round out its executive management team with two key hires. First, Gateways placed Sue Leary as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Sue had been the Director of Deloitte Consulting’s Public Sector I.T practice in educational services and implementation for North America. In addition, Gateways led the placement of Jim O’Connor as the company’s CFO. Formerly, Jim was the National Finance Director for AT&T—as well as the company’s Director of East Coast Operations.

Look out for Logic House in 2004 as the company expands beyond Pennsylvania into other states such as West Virginia and Maryland, as well as into other countries such as Germany, France and Israel. Logic House will also make its way into the Higher Education market by the close of 2004—adding more than 70 new jobs in the process. This is definitely a company to watch.