Telos (company)

Telos Corporation

Type	Private
Traded as	OTC Pink:
Industry	Consulting Government contractor
Founded	1971
Headquarters	Ashburn, Virginia, USA
Key people	John B. Wood, President and CEO
Number of employees	560
Website	www.telos.com

Telos Corporation is an information technology (IT) consulting company located in Ashburn, Virginia. The company’s name is derived from the Greek word for “purpose” or “goal". Telos primarily serves government and enterprise clients, receiving a large number of its contracts from the United States Department of Defense (DoD).

Telos was founded in 1968, and incorporated in Maryland in 1971. From 1975 Telos developed and supported ground based telemetry systems for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Starting in 1976, the company provided software engineering services for the U.S. Army's tactical fire support systems. It was originally named C3, Incorporated, but in 1992 acquired Telos Corporation of California as a subsidiary (from Contel Federal Systems which was part of GTE) for $32 million and adopted its name. In 1994, the company attempted to recapitalize its debt by issuing a series of notes and preferred stock shares, after accumulated losses. A disagreement between former chairman Fred Knoll and John R.C. Porter, the majority shareholder at the time, was settled for $1 million. At the end of 1995 it had 1,658 employees and had headquarters in Herndon, Virginia.

The company provides security in four major areas:

On July 19, 2002, the Santa Monica, California operations were sold to L-3 Communications for $22.3 million. On October 17, 2005, shareholder Costa Brava Partnership filed a lawsuit against the company for failing to issue its required dividends. The plaintiff was joined in 2006 by Wynnefield Small Cap Value. Counter-claims followed through 2008. The company had preferred stock traded on the OTC Bulletin Board until July 13, 2007, and the on Pink Sheets with symbol TLSRP.

Telos was one of eight prime contractors for a program of the United States Air Force for network-centric and information technology products and services known as NETCENTS. The first NETCENTS contract started in 2004 and ran through 2009. Telos recorded $230 million in sales for NETCENTS in 2008.