ISU Research Park tenant celebrates three decades of innovation in internet technologies

When Iacovos Zachariades founded Global Reach Internet Productions in 1995, the World Wide Web was still in its infancy, and building websites was considered more curiosity than career. What began as a personal hobby turned into one of Iowa’s longest-standing and most successful tech companies—and one of the ISU Research Park’s oldest tenants.

Now, as Global Reach celebrates its 30th anniversary, the journey from a startup in the Park’s incubator to a provider of enterprise-level digital solutions for clients like the State of Iowa, Casey’s, Fareway, and even Homeland Security offers a case study in steady, sustainable tech growth in the Midwest.

A Hobby with Potential

Zachariades, who came to Iowa to pursue a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instructional Technology at Iowa State University, was simply tinkering at first.

“When the web started coming up, I started learning on my own,” he says. “I ended up building a website for a class I was teaching. It was a personal interest—more of a hobby.”

At the time, he was working full-time at Iowa State and building websites on weekends. “Even when the business started, that was in ’95, for me it was still more like a side gig.”

But that hobby eventually became something more. Along with a few business-minded friends, Zachariades moved into the Research Park’s business incubator—a springboard for innovation that provided key infrastructure support for new ventures.

A Home at the Park

Global Reach quickly outgrew its initial office.

“Within six months, we ended up moving into our own suite in the Research Park,” Zachariades says. “From there, we kept moving to a bigger and bigger suite. We’ve been to a few different ones.”

The ISU Research Park wasn’t just an address—it was an ecosystem that helped the company land its first few clients. Metabolic Technologies, another tenant, was Global Reach’s very first customer. Remarkably, Metabolic Technologies remains a customer to this day. Also among the early clients was the Research Park itself.

“We did get a lot of customers that were other tenants of the Research Park, so that was a real advantage,” Zachariades says.

In those early days, simply being in the Research Park lent credibility to a young business in a field many people still didn’t fully understand. 

“There was more of a prestige,” Zachariades says. “You had to be doing something innovative to be accepted to the incubator. That helped a lot when we went to get other customers in the state.”

Building a Platform from Scratch

One of the company’s proudest achievements came in 2001 with the creation of SiteViz, Global Reach’s proprietary content management solution. Developed before platforms like WordPress had even entered the mainstream, SiteViz has become a key differentiator for the firm.

“It’s powering half the State of Iowa agencies, a lot of the State of Kansas agencies, and even Fortune 500 companies,” Zachariades says. “It’s never been compromised, and it’s been up and running for 24 years.”

The platform’s reliability and robust security features have made it particularly attractive to clients in banking, healthcare, and government.

“We’ve gotten a niche for banking websites and hospitals because of the advanced security,” he says. “It’s extremely user friendly, very intuitive—and the best use of ColdFusion Adobe has ever seen, according to Adobe themselves.”

Local Roots, Long-Term Vision

Though the company has fielded incentives from economic development groups in other cities, Zachariades never seriously considered leaving Ames.

“I like the location here,” he says. “I like the proximity to Iowa State for hiring people. We’ve established our data center here. We’ve invested a lot in backup generators and other redundant systems.”

That proximity to ISU also created a steady talent pipeline for years. While the company no longer runs a formal internship program due to the specialized nature of its work, students still occasionally join for shorter-term roles, especially in areas like graphic design, business development, and social media.

Global Reach also continues to benefit from the community and support in the Research Park. 

“Whenever I needed something and asked the Research Park—especially in the early years—I always had support,” Zachariades says. “Timely responses, the right support.”

Growth, the Steady Way

In contrast to Silicon Valley’s grow-fast-and-flip ethos, Global Reach has followed a more measured path.

“In 2000, when I quit my job and focused on the business, I thought I’d do it for five or ten years and sell,” Zachariades says. “But it has become more than a quick flip—it’s grown steadily, year after year. It’s a good, respectable business with very good products and great clients.”

That kind of long-haul thinking is emblematic of the company’s philosophy—and the ISU Research Park’s role in nurturing sustainable innovation.

“I didn’t know what to expect going forward, but if I look back at the progress, it’s humbling to see where we’ve come from when we started in the Research incubator back in 1995,” Zachariades says. “We’ve built something that lasts.”