History

Innovative Micro Systems was founded in 1988 by R. Scott Schrumpf to serve the growing market for business application systems on IBM-compatible personal computers. Over the next decade, we developed dozens of custom business applications using the R:BASE relational database platform. Our initial client base was small departments in large corporations that were ignored by their internal IT Departments, but as time went on we started to address the needs of small businesses that didn't have any internal IT Departments. As the technology moved from DOS-based character applications to Windows-based graphic applications, we found it increasingly difficult to compete against newer platforms like Microsoft Access.

In 1997 Innovative Micro Systems was put on hold while its founder accepted a consulting position at REALOGIC (now Computer Associates).  This lasted only one year as his entrepreneurial passion surpassed the comforts of steady pay. 

In 1998 we changed our focus from developing custom business applications to installing and customizing client-server networks. Microsoft had just released their first Small Business Server (SBS) product, and this allowed us to provide small businesses with technologies previously available only to large corporations with internal IT Departments. We have continued to install SBS products since that time, and consider them an excellent network infrastructure for small and medium-sized businesses.

Shortly after jumping into networking, we found ourselves with an opportunity to develop a large application for an existing client with a series of aging R:BASE applications. The project was beyond our development capabilities, so we partnered with MindCrafted Systems, Inc. to develop an enterprise-wide application using an Access-based front-end with a SQL Server back-end. We leveraged our knowledge of the business, as well as our knowledge of databases, to design and support the SQL Server back-end database, while MindCrafted leveraged their development capabilities to develop the front-end Access application. This produced a decade-long partnership that supported the client as they expanded their business by a factor of 10.