Trace3 Sees Strong Growth in Agentic AI - EUROPE SAYS
Trace3, a local technology consulting firm that helps blue-chip companies modernize their technology, is going all-out to help clients adopt artificial intelligence, especially the branch that enables. . .
Trace3, a local technology consulting firm that helps blue-chip companies modernize their technology, is going all-out to help clients adopt artificial intelligence, especially the branch that enables machines to reason like humans and make their own decisions. “We don’t see this as a one-year tailwind. We see this as a multi-year, long-term transformation that I think is going to stick around for a long time,” says Joe Quaglia, who was promoted from president to chief executive last November. The Irvine-based company captured $2. 8 billion in revenue last year, for a nearly 17% year-over-year increase, while the AI portion grew by 122%. “We don’t see that slowing down,” the CEO told the Business Journal on June 2. The company is counting on 15% revenue growth in 2026. Trace3 was founded in 2002 to help enterprises build and operate IT infrastructure. It has grown into a national player able to service Fortune 500 and mid-market clients across industries like entertainment, finance and healthcare. Last year, it was acquired by Apollo Funds, a high-growth global alternative asset manager (NYSE: APO). Autonomous EnterpriseThe goal is called “Autonomous Enterprise. ” While definitions vary greatly, agentic AI basically lets computer systems make their own decisions and act on their own, with little or no human intervention. “We’re seeing the most growth by helping our clients deploy agents to leverage the power of AI in their enterprise,” Quaglia says. “All of our clients want to get to agentic AI and in order to get there you’ve got to go through a number of stages of readiness,” says the CEO. That includes making sure the client has the right infrastructure to handle the large amount of hardware needed for AI functions. One fundamental question: “Do they have the right platforms in place to run agentic and agents throughout the enterprise?”“Most of our clients are blue chip, Fortune 1000 clients,” said Quaglia. Clients include some of the largest healthcare, financial services and technology companies. A Trace3 unit also works with the federal government. He said contract terms bar him from naming names, though the typical client has $3 billion in revenue and above. The latest findings show the need for many companies to catch up on AI implementation, even though some companies remain wary of AI results and accuracy. In May, Dun & Bradstreet released findings from its AI Momentum survey stating only 5% of enterprises say their data is ready to support AI. ‘Biggest of Them All’“We’ve been through many transformations or evolutions in the past like cloud, mobile and Internet. This we believe is the biggest of them all and will have longest life,” he said. Trace3 also works with state and local government, education, aerospace and energy. The company has about 1,460 employees across the country as of June, up 5% year over year, according to Quaglia. It had more than 60 jobs posted on its website as of June 15, including data & analytics, integration technician and engineers. Dell, Microsoft, CrowdStrikePartners include Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Concentric, CrowdStrike and Thales. Quaglia was named president of Trace3 in 2022 and succeeded Rich Fennessy three years later in November. Fennessy transitioned to the role of Trace3 executive chairman. The company’s competitors include Presidio and Worldwide Tech Services, both of New York. Trace3 was acquired by Apollo Funds from American Securities last year. Quaglia called Apollo a great supporter sponsor and investment arm. Trace3 ranked No. 12 on this year’s Business Journal list of privately held companies based in Orange County. The company now has about 4,500 clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, spread across all 50 states. “We’re looking to do more acquisitions,” the CEO said, without naming potential targets. Quaglia lives right outside of Nashville and emphasizes the company’s headquarters remain in Irvine. Agentic AI are the Latest Buzz WordsWhile AI has been around for years, there is an increasing focus on what’s called agentic AI, that is, artificial intelligence that does things for you increasingly on its own. Here are excerpts from an explanation posted on the MIT Sloan School of Management website earlier this year. “Today, attention has shifted to the next evolution of generative AI: AI agents or agentic AI, a new breed of AI systems that are semi- or fully autonomous and thus able to perceive, reason, and act on their own. Different from the now familiar chatbots that field questions and solve problems, this emerging class of AI integrates with other software systems to complete tasks independently or with minimal human supervision. “The agentic AI age is already here. We have agents deployed at scale in the economy to perform all kinds of tasks,” said Sinan Aral, a professor of management, IT, and marketing at MIT Sloan. ”“While there isn’t a universally agreed upon definition of agentic AI, there are broad characteristics associated with it. While generative AI automates the creation of complex text, images, and video based on human language interaction, AI agents go further, acting and making decisions in a way a human might, said MIT Sloan associate professor John Horton. ”