Evolve IP, a Managed Technology Provider based in the Philadelphia region, announced recently that it has closed an equity financing round totaling $15.6 million. This financing represents the largest early stage telecommunications and IT investment in the Philadelphia region in the past seven years.

This recent funding will be used to continue the expansion and build out of the company’s world-class service delivery platforms and Managed Technology Solution products. Evolve IP’s Managed Technology Solutions deliver a new way for businesses to buy, manage, and secure the technologies they use to communicate and process information, and include Managed Telephony, Managed Network Services, Network Security and Compliance, and Hosted Applications.

The Evolve IP management team is comprised of industry veterans with more than 150 years of combined experience in telephony, data communications, Internet, and security. The company was co-founded in 2006 by Thomas Gravina and Michael Peterson, who built ATX Communications into one of the largest competitive telecommunications companies in the United States.

Gravina and Peterson are joined by several other proven partners with long track records of success, including Tim Allen, Chief Sales Officer; Guy Fardone, Chief Operating Officer; Mark Soma, Senior Vice president of Information Technology; Peter Eisengrein, Senior Vice President of Network Operations and Design; Scott Kinka, Senior Vice President of Network Services; Joseph Pedano, Vice President of Data Engineering; and Michael D. Batdorf, Vice President of Business Development.

The financing is backed by some of the most successful investors and business executives in the nation, including Herb Lotman, Chairman and Founder of Keystone Foods; Ira M. Lubert, Chairman and Co-Founder of Independence Capital Partners; Peter G. Peterson, Senior Chairman and Co-Founder of The Blackstone Group; and Michael C. Forman, Managing General Partner of FB Capital Partners.

“Evolve IP has attracted the best talent in the industry, as well as top technology companies such as Cisco, Broadsoft, Acme Packet, SAP, and IBM to construct a world-class service delivery architecture, and create a one-of-a-kind value proposition to the market,” says Thomas Gravina, Chairman CEO and Co-Founder of Evolve IP. “As the industry’s first true ‘Managed Technology Provider,’ we have defined a new space that enables organizations to increase their productivity, improve their network stability and security, and address their compliance needs while simplifying their cumbersome legacy infrastructure. Evolve IP customers can focus on their business priorities, instead of worrying about the care, feeding, and unnecessary expenses of their outdated communications infrastructure.”

Evolve IP is a Managed Technology Provider that has created a new way for businesses to buy, manage, and secure the technologies they use to communicate. With a broad range of expertise and a suite of services that includes Managed Telephony, Managed Network Services, Network Security & Compliance, and Hosted Applications, Evolve IP can partner with businesses of all sizes to provide a complete solution to turn their vital communications technologies into a competitive advantage.

Evolve IP enables today’s workforce to realize increased productivity through feature-rich service offerings and significantly improved security and stability achieved through geographically diverse Technology Centers and 24x7 professional management, all of which is delivered with greater simplification and a lower Total Cost of Ownership.