The IT industry is changing, and Hyperion Networks is evolving with it
We sat down with Joe Ray, the founder of Hyperion Networks, for a conversation about his founding journey, starting a business, and pivoting at scale. He founded his company in East Tennessee in 2013.
When Joe Ray founded Hyperion Networks in East Tennessee in 2013, the world of information technology looked very different. Thirteen years later, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and smart manufacturing have reshaped the landscape. Ray has spent that time helping local manufacturers and businesses keep up, and now he is pivoting his own company to meet the moment.
Hyperion Networks serves as a Managed IT Services Provider, taking on the behind-the-scenes work that keeps a business running. Ray and his Knoxville-based team oversee network monitoring, data security, system updates, help desk support, and more, all to make internal systems run more efficiently.
Ray’s interest in technology started early. He grew up attending a small school that had no formal IT budget, so administrators hired an outside firm to connect student computers to a central server. To save money, they invited a few technically gifted students to help. Ray was one of them.
“I started playing around with computers when I was very young,” he said. “It was my first exposure to what a career in IT would look like, and I was immediately hooked.”
By age 16, he had landed his first paid job working with computer systems. After earning a B.S. in IT and Network Design, he took a help desk job at a publishing magazine in Battle Creek, Michigan, and eventually became its acting CIO. There, he solved key problems, improved compliance, mitigated risks, and helped position the company for a sale.
Once the acquisition was complete, he began looking for something new and decided to relocate to Tennessee.
Ray joined Knox County Schools as a network technician and helped build its first data center.
“That was a fun experience,” he said. “I got to do a lot of things. But after four years, it was time for me to go back to the business side.”
After a brief role with a Knoxville-based IT company, he realized he could build something of his own. Hyperion Networks has been his focus ever since.
Finding his stride
“Until late last year, we were a generalized IT service provider, and we focused on manufacturing, medical, and small businesses,” Ray said. “But we have now pivoted to take on more complex clients, particularly in the manufacturing space.”
By 2018, the company had expanded into cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and VoIP systems. In 2021, Hyperion reached a milestone by managing more than 100 networks, establishing itself as a regional leader.
Cloud technologies have been one of the biggest drivers of change in the industry, Ray noted, and they have opened new opportunities for clients to modernize operations.
“That has given us the flexibility to start focusing on other sectors that still have layers of complexity,” he said. A key part of that approach is walking clients through stability, security, and operational checklists to identify places where automation or artificial intelligence can help.
Yet Ray emphasized that his biggest focus moving forward is deploying engineers and technicians who approach the work with the heart of a teacher. Some clients are ready to implement AI immediately, while others must build foundational systems before the tools are useful.
“There is no magic bullet in what we do,” he said. “No one thing will change your business, but there are a lot of standard processes that can be combined to improve efficiency. Technology has a path to get you to where you want to go.”
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