The pandemic made remote work and flexible hours standard for companies and employees. Zia Networks, an IT company with offices in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, has helped make that work evolution a reality. “People say, ‘My nephew in high school could do what you do.’ They confuse us with the Geek Squad,” says founder Paul Quintana, who co-owns the company with Tyson Cole. “People don’t understand the breadth and depth of technology. We work in enterprise environments to set up secure environments and redundancies, so traffic is always up.” Zia Networks often helps clients transition data to the cloud; it’s one of the biggest trends Quintana says he sees in his work.

He’s has been tracking computing trends since his elementary school days, when he played PC games like Oregon Trail. “With one touch of the mouse and keyboard, you could see all the power it harnessed,” he says. “When I got older, I saw how [computers] could be used to communicate, to collaborate.” In those days, viruses like the ILOVEYOU worm were nuisances. “It was something that would bother you for five minutes. Today, state-sponsored malware and ransomware is big business,” he says. Training clients in cybersecurity is a growing segment of Zia Networks’ offerings, even among an increasingly tech-savvy workforce.

“I don’t think Santa Fe is going to be a technology hub. But a lot of people are moving in and working here from out of state. They’re bringing with them newer technology. That’s going to improve the way the tech sector in Santa Fe and Albuquerque is going to advance,” he says. — AMB