Liberty Lake data company expanding

Liberty Lake-based IT-Lifeline has announced it will double its office space and expand its marketing efforts to Boise and Portland.

Since starting in 2002, the company has grown to 14 workers with average sales leaping by nearly 40 percent a year, said company CEO Steve Tabacek.

It recently signed a 10-year lease for 10,000 square feet of space in the Liberty Lake Internet Portal building.

The company’s next big thrust, into Idaho and Oregon, will be fueled by a second round of venture funds coming from more than one source, Tabacek said. He could not disclose the source or amount of the funding, he said.

IT-Lifeline offers a variety of data backup and recovery services, plus business continuity tools. For instance, it provides network tools to ensure that critical parts of a company’s Web operations are maintained in case of a failure.

“A large accounting firm involved in tax return services this time of year would lose huge amounts of money if its customers can’t reach it, or if the company’s e-mail system goes down,” Tabacek said.

IT-Lifeline has more than 60 corporate customers. Many are in the financial services and health care industries, said Brandon Tanner, the company’s vice president of marketing.

Tabacek said the company, by design, is pouring sales revenue into enlarging the operation. He wouldn’t disclose annual revenue.

A Spokane investment group put a first round of investment in the company in 2005. That helped Tabacek focus on securing customers in the Puget Sound area. Among the company’s selling points: its relative safety from earthquakes and floods and its isolation from crowded metropolitan areas.

Looking at its fast growth, Tabacek said the company’s key decision was whether to remain in the Liberty Lake Internet Portal building, owned by Bernard Daines and several others, or build its own facility.

It would cost $3 million to $5 million to build its own offices, so Tabacek remained in the data center. That building is the best of its kind in this area, he said.

“We pay a premium (in lease costs), but it’s worth it because of the features they have there,” he said.

Those include backup generators, high-quality heating and air conditioning and full-time security.