About Us, yesterday, today and tomorrow...

About Us

In the Beginning:

S&H Systems Services, Inc. was formed in February, 1981 by two former Burroughs Corporation employees. John Summitt and Steven Haynie each had been Territory Managers with Burroughs in the Ft. Lauderdale office. Steve had also been the Zone Manager for General accounts in most of Broward County, Florida for awhile. John had already begun providing software and support for users of the Burroughs L-Series mini-computers, and Steve realized that this was the most important aspect of computer systems to the end users. Discussing support and software requirements for upcoming sales, it occurred to both that there was a bigger need than one person could fill. They decided to join forces and form a company whose purpose would be software development and user support.  Since the training model at Burroughs had provided them with highly technical training, they were prepared for the task. A small office, really only 10' x 10' in a warehouse behind a waterslide, was rented to work from initially.

The Growing Years:

Eventually, as the market changed, they became resellers of equipment and peripherals. At first it included reselling used L-Series Mini-Computers with their ledger-card, and paper-tape and cassette technology. Business was demanding more space. In 1983 they moved to offices at 3938 N.E. 5th Terrace, in Oakland Park, Florida. The address remains the same today. Disk based systems arrived for small businesses, and they became "Value Added Resellers" for Burroughs Corporation. A decision to affiliate with Parameter Driven Software (PDS) provided them with a timely alternative to "canned" or "custom" software. Canned software was often lacking in features users needed, and custom software was expensive and took time to develop. PDS used a product named ADEPT to allow standard packages to be customized using a computer program. A program to do programming -the fourth generation of computer languages had arrived. As the market continued to evolve, they supported many systems including BTOS, UNIX, XENIX, MSDOS, and of course Windows. Also added were relationships with more hardware vendors, such as Acer America computers, and additional software vendors including Microsoft. More affiliations with specialty providers, such as talented programmers and designers, followed. John Summitt retired in 1993 to Tennessee, where we still count him as our friend!

Where we are at:

Today  the remote workplace, the fabled "telecommuting", is common for us. Vendors and myself do much of our work remotely from home offices and at odd hours. The office remains rented, but we use the space less as time goes on. Our licenses are there, and deliveries arrive there, our excess supplies are stored there, but I am seldom there for long.

Where we are going:

The world we started in in 1981 was one where we controlled all the aspects of a computer installation, from "soup to nuts". We designed the programs, installed the hardware, trained the operator and checked the data. Today we partner with many vendors for more powerful and complicated products. We have strong bonds with vendors, formed over 25 years in business, that help us work for our customers best interests. New training and new tools, as well as new relationships allow us to offer additional services to our clients.  We have not forgotten that support for the day-to-day operations of computer systems, sometimes at odd hours, is what we do, and we'll continue to offer service that way. Visit our Links page for additional useful sites.LINKS

 Bio:

Steven Haynie, co-founder and owner of S&H Systems Services, Inc. has been in the computer field since graduation from Florida Atlantic University in 1975. A local product, he graduated from Miami Carol City Senior High School in the "Class of 72". Earning his BBA in just 3 years, he started his career with Burroughs Corporation in September of 1975. Moving through the training and sales goals rapidly, Steven was a Territory Manager by mid-1976. Handling Government and Hospitality accounts in Broward County, he quickly established a reputation for technical ability and communication skills. His success as a Territory Manager quickly brought him a promotion in February, 1977 to Zone Sales Manager for General Accounts in Broward County, Florida. He remained with Burroughs until 1981 when he left to join John Summitt in forming S&H Systems Services, Inc. He is trained in networking, operating systems, several programming languages and also does hardware support and repair.