About Us
Personalized Solutions. Flexible. Scalable. Secure.
iConnect Montana was founded in 1999 and is wholly owned by three of Montana’s most respected and financially stable telecommunications companies.
- Doing business since 1953
- Doing business since 1946
- Doing business since 1952
These companies provide advanced telecommunications services across nearly 30,000 square miles of Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.
Back in the 1990s, the founding companies identified the need to have an independent, carrier neutral, “central office” type of facility in Billings in which they and other companies could install networking equipment in a protected, hardened environment that facilitates interconnections with each other as well as with multiple fiber optic networks that extend their reach worldwide.
iConnect’s first facility, located in Billings, became operational in December of 1999. Since that time, the company has not only significantly expanded the Billings facility, but additional sites in Helena and Missoula have also been built. These sites have become known as Montana’s “fiber hotels.”
The fiber hotels have enabled many Montana businesses to enjoy the benefits of a carrier-grade central office-type facility without having to bear the upfront costs of building and maintaining the associated infrastructure.
Most recently, iConnect opened its second Billings facility – – a 47,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art, “tier 3” grade data center. The data center is attracting a growing list of both domestic and foreign companies that are relocating their technology infrastructure to Billings from higher-cost sites.
Our Team
Craig Gates
Craig has over 35 years of experience in various aspects of the telecommunications and information technology industry. Craig provides direction and leadership toward the development and achievement of iConnect Montana’s philosophy, mission, strategy, and its short and long term goals and objectives. In addition, Craig is the CEO of Triangle Communications.
Shawn Helmbrecht
Shawn has been iConnect’s Facilities Supervisor since 2010, and has worked with iConnect for nearly 15 years. He brings 17 years of valuable multi-faceted experience to iConnect. Shawn helps manage the successful operation of iConnect’s facilities across Montana. Shawn’s essential duties include oversight of the installation, maintenance and operation of iConnect’s critical infrastructure including: electrical, mechanical, and alarms & monitors. Shawn also oversees iConnect’s Remote Hands Services, procurement and maintenance of various data center certifications, and is involved with the company’s sales and marketing efforts.
Jonathan Berk
Jonathan’s resume includes a business degree and more than 10 years of experience with the US Army and in civilian positions installing, maintaining and troubleshooting various types of electrical and mechanical systems including:
- Generators
- Automatic transfer switches
- UPS systems
- Power distribution units
- HVAC systems
Wally Finley
Wally has worked with iConnect as an Independent Contractor since 2007 and has over 25 years of experience managing and optimizing IT infrastructure/strategy. This includes large-scale petabyte shared storage cloud solutions, HA/DR, compliance, cost modeling, and data center architecture. Wally has worked in various industries including university, aviation, medical, geospatial, banking, online travel, social media, and online archives.
Daniel Koumanov
Daniel has worked with iConnect as an Independent Contractor in various capacities and he is currently a System Architect. Daniel has over 15 years of experience delivering IT solutions across a wide range of industries including SaaS, government, non-profit, banking and healthcare. He has led a number of large scale initiatives including complete infrastructure overhauls, large storage upgrade projects, disaster recovery and business continuity planning and implementation.
iConnect Montana
PO Box 1656
Billings, MT