The SOURCE Story
Founded in 1971, SOURCE, Inc. has celebrated more than three decades of success in the telecommunications industry under its original founder, David Potter. SOURCE shares this milestone with numerous longstanding employees, some of whom have been with the company for more than 20 years.
In that time, SOURCE has stayed true to our mission of providing exceptional value to our customers, while growing and adapting to the competitive and evolving telecom industry. We have withstood changes in technology, economic downturns and the age of acquisitions by investing in staff and information technology.
SOURCE began as an entrepreneurial venture when founder David Potter purchased and sold his first used telephone system during his senior year at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. SOURCE has since grown from a small office along the Trinity River to an industry leader, with more than 200 employees at our North Dallas and St. Louis offices.
Over the past 36 years, SOURCE has expanded our service offerings by acknowledging opportunities in the industry. Our history is intertwined with the developments of the telecom industry. Below are highlights of SOURCE's unique and adaptive approach to communications.
1971 |
SOURCE is founded by David Potter. Used equipment was refurbished, then redeployed, domestically and internationally, meeting the needs of less technologically advanced or impoverished areas. |
1978 |
SOURCE contracts with Western Electric and later SNET and NY Tel, to replace their NEC systems (i.e.: NA409-crossbar). SOURCE in turn resells them to hotel chains for installation at their properties.
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1983-84 |
SOURCE installs our first mainframe computer and begins development of our inventory management system to value and track equipment, providing invaluable information regarding costs, sales values and volumes.
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1984 |
Divestiture. The government directive regionally splits the BOCs, leaving them to provide local service while AT&T retains the long-distance business. AT&T is awarded the embedded customer base, as well as all residential phone equipment and business systems. The BOCs are forced to start from scratch to build a customer base and equip customers. SOURCE benefits through equipment sales and equipment liquidation. |
1989 |
SOURCE introduces serialized bar coding to identify, audit and track inventory. This allows them to bid against companies on pricing, and develop product histories for sales and maintenance.
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1996 |
SOURCE and Avaya partner, providing SOURCE with additional new product sales.
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2004 |
FCC rules that electric power companies can use their wiring for Internet service, including VoIP. As a result, SOURCE moves into the IP Telephony market. |
2005 |
Southwestern Bell, known more recently as SBC, purchases AT&T, completing the cycle of change that began with divestiture. Though most companies continue to morph into different names, SOURCE has always been SOURCE.
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2006 |
SOURCE celebrates 35 years of success and looks forward to continual innovation and adaptation as the market changes.
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2007 |
In response to the convergence evolution, SOURCE serves as the “one” total communications resource, offering unified enterprise communications through integration of voice and data with IP-enabled applications. |
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