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Mike Agri, the founder of TC Life Safety (formerly Total Computing), began his career in fire protection maintaining onboard aircraft fire detection and suppression systems as an aircraft mechanic in the United States Air Force, between 5/63 and 5/67. He became an installer of special hazard fire extinguishing systems (Dry Chemical, CO2, Halon, etc.) in 1971.
Mike became a sales representative for Standard Electric Time/Faraday (now owned by Siemens Building Technologies) in the early 1980's. SET/Faraday manufactured, sold and serviced fire alarm, clock, and emergency evacuation systems. Many of their customers were schools, hospitals, and larger institutions.
Mike noticed that almost all of these facilities were lacking one critical element of life safety - backup power. Very few of his customers were using online UPS systems at the time (remember, it was still a relatively new technology in the 1980's). Mike tried to convince management at SET/Faraday to start a division that would sell backup solutions to new and existing customers. They didn't think it was a technology that would sell and the idea was scratched.
In late 1989, Mike decided that he would start a company that would sell "microprocessor-based solutions." His focus was on integrating UPS/backup and business computing systems into new or existing life safety infrastructures. He named his business "Total Computing".
Mike left SET/Faraday in 1999 and devoted all of his time and energy to Total Computing. In 2000, his son Christopher joined the company. In between writing the software to manage the company's billing and inventory systems, Chris developed the company's first web site.
The web site was initially focused on explaining how Total Computing could help businesses upgrade older life safety systems to newer technologies without losing their investment in existing infrastructure. The site slowly evolved to showcase some of the more interesting products we were using in the field and how they integrated into other systems.
Shortly after the web site went up, we starting getting sales calls from other contractors, looking to purchase the products we were showing on the web site. As we added more products to the web site, the volume of sales inquiries increased.
We realized that the internet was an un-tapped market for the fire alarm industry, and that we were well-placed to take advantage of it. After careful research, Mike and Chris decided that an e-commerce site that catered to electricians, alarm contractors, and others in the life safety industry had the potential to not only serve the industry, but allow Mike and Chris to continue to do what they loved.
The year 2004 saw the debut of totalcomputing.net as a fully ecommerce-enabled web site. Total Computing has evolved from a service and installation company into a nationwide distributor of life safety products and systems. Today, we carry products from over 100 manufacturers and have diversified our offerings to include batteries, fire alarm wire and tools.
On January 1, 2010, Total Computing Life Safety Systems became TC Life Safety. The business moved from a sole-proprietorship to a corporation. With offices in two states and sales spanning the globe, TC Life Safety is poised to become a dominant online force in the life safety industry. We've come this far based on a 20-year track record of exceptional service, broad product offerings and competitive pricing. TC Life Safety remains committed to not only maintaining, but improving on the foundation of what's made us successful. |
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