Friday, August 8, 2008

Treeno plans overseas expansion

By Christopher Calnan

Will Thibodeau was attending the University of New Hampshire in 2002, when he learned that the university’s human resources department wanted to develop electronic versions of its paper files. So the then-21-year-old computer science major developed a program to do that.

Six years later, Thibodeau’s software is the core product of Treeno Software Inc., a Portsmouth, N.H.-based content management software company competing against the likes of Hopkinton-based EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC).

This month, Treeno is expected to release its latest product, a plug-in appliance, and plans to expand its customer base to Europe.

Thibodeau started Treeno as Docutron Systems Inc. while attending UNH in 2002. The 27-year-old now serves as CTO of Treeno, which has operated without a CEO since January — leaving it to Thibodeau and executive vice president of sales Steve Tentindo to steer the course of the 15-employee company.

“Between the two of us, we have the right mix of technology and sales,” Thibodeau said.

Treeno now claims 200 customers but doesn’t disclose its annual revenue. Treeno’s strength has been that its document and workflow management software is typically one-third the cost of its competitors, Thibodeau said.

Treeno’s software-as-a-service product is its biggest differentiator. It makes the software more viable for small and midsize businesses, said Omri Duek, a senior research analyst of InfoTrends Inc., a Weymouth-based research firm.

For enterprise customers, Treeno competes with EMC and with IBM Corp.’s FileNet. At the smaller end, it competes with California-based Laserfiche and with DocStar, a division of New Jersey-based AuthentiDate Holding Corp.

Local content management companies include Nashua, N.H.-based eCopy Inc., Andover’s Omtool Ltd. and Burlington’s Nuance Inc.

Treeno has been largely self-funded but is considering outside investment to fuel growth, Thibodeau said.