Aeras Technologies, a local startup just over a year old, has been making a splash in both the IT and non-profit worlds.

Aeras, headquartered in Maitland, works with businesses of any size as well as education institutions to tackle IT issues. Their clients range from solo entrepreneurs needing to craft a digital identity to large-scale operations needing assistance with managing fleets of devices, moving data to the cloud, establishing cyber security plans, and deploying new software for their employees.

According to CEO David Collins, the goal of Aeras is not to replace an existing IT department, but to complement it by handling the tasks that weigh it down or are too time consuming to handle internally. “When we work with a company with one or two people in the IT department, we do the heavy lifting to take things off their plate to enhance their work experience. If you don’t have an IT department, we can be your team,” says Collins.

Part of Aeras’ offerings is through the specialization of managing Apple technology as a member of the Apple Consultants Network – a small, global community of IT firms that have been certified by Apple to work with their customers.  Collins formerly worked for Apple as a Director of Sales for nearly 9 years. A Winter Park native and resident, Collins spent that time traveling across the country, and was asked to relocate permanently to Silicon Valley. Collins ultimately decided uprooting his family was not the right choice, and chose instead to launch his own company.

As an Apple Consultancy, Aeras helps to manage and deploy Apple products in a professional work environment. Collins notes that many businesses have been adopting a larger footprint of Apple technology due to younger generations of workers leaving school that have only used Apple products. He also adds that companies providing a choice in technology for employees consistently skew towards Apple.

“We see lots of businesses looking to invest and grow with technology as we are coming out of the pandemic, so people are pursuing all of their options. The more remote-friendly, the better,” Collins says. Other topics at the forefront of his customer’s minds are cyber security, VoIP (voice over internet protocol) systems, and moving data off-premise based servers to the cloud in an effort to remove antiquated server hardware.

As if launching a company was not enough, Collins founded a non-profit foundation in the middle of 2020. Collins has supported and volunteered with several charities over the years, but always knew he wanted to find a way to do more. His desire to give back by starting a foundation took root during the COVID-19 pandemic when Collins learned that many local students could not access virtual learning as they did not have a home computer.

The goal of Aeras Foundation is to provide technology to students without access at home to allow them to participate at the same level as those who do.

“All of the schools were doing remote learning, and I learned from my daughter that she had classmates who were without technology to use for school. The next weekend, I was in a driveway running a technology drive,” says Collins. “We now have about 20 to 30 businesses that are now donating their technology, and we currently serve students in three counties.”

The foundation has integrated high school students to be a part of the solution through the student volunteer team called the Aeras Ambassadors. At a recent technology drive at Bishop Moore Catholic High School, Collins says they collected more than 500 pieces of technology, and with the help of 30-40 students were able to assess each one, erase the data, and refurbish the devices. The foundation has been able to deploy equipment to other non-profit organizations as well, many of which operate on limited budgets with outdated equipment.

David Collins will be the speaker at the May 7 Good Morning Winter Park. Click here to register.