Former PC Connection drops the ‘PC’

Merrimack-based technology provider rebrands as simply ‘Connection’

Say goodbye to the “PC” in PC Connection, as well as its ticker signal, PCCC. Say hello to the Merrimack-based company’s new name, Connection, and its new ticker symbol, CNXN, starting tomorrow.

But the company, which began as PC Connection 35 years ago as a technology catalog firm n Marlow, NH, that sold personal computers to consumers, will still do so. Indeed, most of its revenue still comes from the sale of hardware and software, but it’s target markets are businesses and institutions, and with things like the cloud, mobility, storage, security and multiple vendors, technology has become too complicated to be handled piecemeal.

“Technology has evolved over the years, and so have we,” said Timothy McGrath. “Today we provide solutions to connect people with technologies that go way beyond the PC.”

Businesses sometimes feel overwhelmed by technological complexity and are increasingly asking the company, “can you do this for us?” McGrath said.

McGrath likens his company’s service to orchestrating the technology provided from various vendors so that they don’t clash, but blend harmoniously.

“We cancel out the noise and confusion and pull that all together. We filter the noise so they can hear pure music,” he says

Sometimes, the company fills the role of an information technology provider, and bills quarterly for its services, but more often it helps a company’s IT director shift though multiple vendors so “we are the one vendor. That technology is our value proposition. We simplify the IT process. We solve it.”

‘What we do’

The “PC” in the original name is also misleading in another way. In the early days of computing, it was often used in contrast to Apple products, so much so that the company once had to market those products though MacConnection to let the public know it had them.

Connection will brand the companies’ different divisions: PC Connection, aimed at small businesses; GovConnection, aimed at government and schools; MoreDirect, aimed at larger corporations, often connected though the cloud; and Softmart, a recent acquisition with an expertise in Microsoft products. This will unite them all, under one brand.

The new brand will also emphasize its goal to connect a company’s technology areas – converged data center, cloud, security, mobility, networking, software and lifecycle.

“Our mission is to connect people with technology to enhance growth,” said McGrath. “Connection is what we do and who we are.”

Connection has already switched its webpage and email system to the new brand name. On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 14, signs will go up in a at Connection’s Merrimack headquarters, where 1,100 of the company’s 2,500 global employees work.

Its stock will begin trading under CNXN on Friday, though a bell-ringing ceremony for the new symbol has not been set yet.