LAKEWOOD, NJ (June 1, 2016) – The GLI Group is pleased to announce the acquisition of Bulletproof Solutions Inc. Bulletproof is Atlantic Canada’s Trusted IT Services Company with a strong and growing portfolio of successful contract and project services. The investment further underscores the GLI Group’s commitment to Canada, and in particular, New Brunswick and the Atlantic Provinces.
The GLI Group announced that, as part of the acquisition, the entire leadership team and executives at Bulletproof, including the senior management team led by Steven Burns, Jeff Shaw and Andrew Jefferies, will continue to operate the company just as they have since inception. Both companies plan to leverage Bulletproof’s strong IT services capabilities throughout other provinces in Canada and in the United States. In addition to traditional and core market clients in the public and commercial sectors that Bulletproof serves today, Bulletproof’s offering of IT services will be available immediately to gaming, lotteries and voting machine related companies – all sectors where the GLI Group maintains a dominant market share of testing related services.
Bulletproof CEO Steven Burns said, “This is the ideal scenario for Bulletproof to take it to the next level. We’ve done a good job growing our company to over 80 people in Atlantic Canada, we have a strong foundation of great processes and especially excellent people. GLI Group immediately saw the awesome potential we have to become more and wants to nurture that potential into growth and success for Bulletproof.”
In selecting GLI to be its shareholder, Steve Burns commented, “Personally, I became convinced that the GLI Group was our ideal partner due to their track record of successfully investing in and building industry leading businesses focused on providing best-in-class services to clients and customers and their commitment to New Brunswick and Canada.”
The GLI Group’s principal owner James Maida said, “We’re very pleased to invest in Bulletproof and their management team. While the GLI Group has businesses globally, the Atlantic Canada region is critically important to our strategy. The Bulletproof team has done an impressive job building a globally competitive company in New Brunswick. We’re excited about the opportunity to expand Bulletproof throughout Canada and globally with New Brunswick as the base of operations. This is great for us and it’s great for Atlantic Canada because we see opportunities to expand into markets across Canada and the rest of the world. Atlantic Canada is a great place to do business and an ideal place to concentrate some key centralized services Bulletproof provides. We’re going to deliver those services to a wider export market across the world. At the same time, we see an opportunity in parallel for on the ground operations to expand into other key regions of Canada and the USA which will only further strengthen the GLI Group and Bulletproof’s market position and success.”
GLI is committed to jobs and growth in the Maritimes. James Maida noted, “Given the province’s recent announcement on the development of their cyber-security strategy, we (GLI) see great potential in being part of the implementation and growth opportunity by investing in existing infrastructure and competencies in the region. We find great synergies investing our capital there.”
About Bulletproof Solutions
Bulletproof Solutions Inc. was founded in 2000 and began operations in 2001 as a security consulting firm but quickly diversified into offering a wider menu of Information Technology (IT) services with a focus on Managed Services. Bulletproof’s competitive advantage is our agility and responsiveness to our clients and our proven track record to deliver projects and services on-time and on-budget. Our executives are approachable, accountable and committed to our client’s success.
Bulletproof employs some of Atlantic Canada’s most accredited and experienced IT professionals. The consistent growth Bulletproof has experienced since its inception in 2000 is a testimony to excellence, competency, dedication, and talent. Clients trust Bulletproof and our employees, knowing they are backed by some of the biggest IT solutions companies in the world. Our partners ensure our employees receive the best support and training enabling them to deliver world-class solutions to businesses. By leveraging the Bulletproof team of IT experts, our clients can meet any technical challenge they face, while they maintain focus on growing their businesses. For more information, visit bulletproofsi.com.
About The GLI Group of Companies
The GLI Group of Companies form an inter-disciplinary approach to Compliance, Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) and Quality Assurance (QA) testing solutions to our clients while meeting their cyber-security and other IT professional services needs. The GLI Group is made up of several entities as described below.
Bulletproof will be closely aligned with GLI’s Quality Assurance and Professional Services Division, based in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada that provides a team of world-class IT professionals and thought leaders who serve as a global resource and knowledge bank to our clients; capable of providing complete and thorough business solutions. This division has a number of dedicated practice areas including; Software Quality Assurance and Test; Core Systems Modernization Project Management, Governance Risk and Compliance and Gaming and Lottery. Each of these specialized practice areas has service offerings that enable continuous process improvement, retain project learning, and shared knowledge, delivering consistent client value driving the bottom line. Whether clients require; cyber-security penetration testing, software testing, IT consulting, or ISO security certification services, our team prides itself in helping our clients succeed. More information can be found at www.sliglobalsolutions.com.
GLI also operates SLI Global Solutions LLC, a nationally recognized partner with State and Local Government agencies, providing Project Management Oversight, IV&V and Assessment Services, QA Management (QM), and software testing services. SLI’s Government Solutions focuses on improving the quality of state and local IT systems through the application of field-tested methodologies delivered by highly qualified experts in the disciplines of IV&V and QA assessments and risk management. SLI’s proprietary QM methodology and framework, SQM3, has earned an ISO 9001:2008 Certification and is derived from industry standards articulated by IEEE, PMBOK, ISO, SWEBOK, and COBIT. SQM3 ensures that findings and recommendations are fact-based and aligned with appropriate standards. More information can be found at www.sliglobalsolutions.com.
The GLI Group was originally founded as the world’s first private gaming test laboratory in 1989, under the name Gaming Laboratories International, and has continuously delivered the best quality compliance testing and professional services for 27 years to regulators, operators and suppliers in the gaming, lottery, and iGaming industry thereby reducing the time to market of products undergoing regulatory scrutiny from its 20 locations spread across Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Europe, North America and South America. GLI is the only global organization of its kind to hold U.S. and international accreditations for compliance with ISO/IEC 17025, 17020, and 17065 standards for technical competence in the gaming, wagering and lottery industry. More info can be found at www.gaminglabs.com.
GLI also operates SLI Compliance, a global compliance testing division that specializes in the fields of Electronic Voting equipment and Health IT headquartered in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. SLI Compliance is a recognized global leader in electronic voting system technology and has assisted not only vendors in their compliance testing requirements but also consults with state, federal and foreign election officials in the proper use and implementation of electronic voting equipment. More information can be found at www.slicompliance.com.
In all, the GLI Group consists of more than 950 employees based throughout 25 offices on 6 continents.