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= Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) =

Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) is a privately held multinational corporation headquartered in Springfield, Illinois USA that develops and sells computer software, along with providing a range of information technology services, through its various product divisions.

Consistently listed in the top 200 software companies in Software Magazine’s annual “Software 500” survey, LRS was ranked 191 in the 2010 list.

Domestic LRS offices are located in Bloomington, Illinois; Glastonbury, Connecticut; St. Louis, Missouri; Atlanta, Georgia; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Overland Park, Kansas; Richardson, Texas; Franklin, Tennessee; and Irvine, California. International LRS offices are located in Hallbergmoos and Walldorf, Germany; Milano, Italy; Madrid, Spain; Cheltenham, UK; North Sydney, Australia; Tokyo, Japan; and Singapore.

= Product and Service Divisions = The company is organized into seven distinct product and service divisions.


 * LRS Enterprise Output Management focuses on development and sales of software facilitating the distribution of documents throughout an organization. LRS products have been developed for the mainframe and open systems platforms.
 * LRS Consulting Services provides IT and engineering staff augmentation services for companies in a variety of industries.
 * PensionGold Retirement Solutions develops and sells pension administration software for public employee defined benefit pension plans.
 * LRS IT Solutions is an IBM Premier Business Partner selling a range of technology solutions including IBM hardware and software.
 * LRS Sports develops and sells nonlinear digital video editing and data management systems customized for football, basketball and Olympic sports. LRS Sports Recruiting Services offers evaluations of high school football prospects throughout the Southeastern US.
 * LRS Web Solutions develops, hosts, and maintains multifunction websites for a range of business, government, and nonprofit organizations. LRS Network Support, a group within LRS Web Solutions, provides network hardware and infrastructure services.
 * LRS Education Services, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Learning, offers a comprehensive set of technical, productivity and business skills courses as well as certifications.

= LRS History = LRS was founded on September 21, 1979, when independent IT consultants Dick Levi, Roger Ray, and Bob Shoup pooled their talents and began serving consulting clients out of a 900-square-foot rented office in downtown Springfield.

Consulting engagements soon led to LRS products and the establishment of three of the company’s divisions. Dick Levi developed the company’s first product in 1981 when he solved a client’s specific need to use a printer located near a mainframe terminal. His solution was the first version of VTAM Printer Support (VPS), which enabled mainframe computers to send print jobs from the JES Spool to devices outside the data center.

LRS followed up with Dynamic Report System (DRS) in 1983; DRS enables systems to deliver jobs to the JES Spool. VTAM Control and Monitoring Facility (VMCF) for TSO and CICS in 1986 enabled authorized users to monitor and control document printing.

In 1982, LRS retained a software marketing firm from Dallas, Texas to sell VPS in North America. LRS also retained a distributor in Europe to sell VPS outside North America. In 1986, LRS brought North American marketing in-house and brought European sales in house in 1993. The LRS group responsible for development and sales of VPS and DRS products was called Enterprise Output Management (EOM).

In 1987, LRS contracted with a local firefighters’ pension board to develop mainframe-base software for administering the pension fund. That software was the basis for PensionPlus Software, which specifically served Illinois police and firefighter pension funds. Continued development of the product for a broader range of funds led to the trademarked name PensionGold in 1996.

Also in 1996, a football coach asked if it was possible to digitize videotape of his team’s games, mark the beginning and end of each play, and link information about each play in a database so he could sort and filter the video clips for easier game analysis. LRS created a software/hardware package called LRS Sports software.

At the same time that its consulting practice was developing new products, LRS was expanding geographically. The company opened its first office outside of Springfield in 1993 in Champaign. Although that office was later closed, LRS expansion beyond its hometown did not stop. Its EOM division, taking European marketing in house in 1993, was opening offices in Belgium, England, Germany, and Spain.

LRS opened consulting offices in St. Louis, Missouri, and Overland Park, Kansas, in 1996; Bloomington, Illinois, in 1999; Richardson, Texas, in 2006; in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2009; and Franklin, Tennessee, in 2011.

The LRS consulting division also grew by acquiring smaller consulting firms. LRS acquired Pennington & Schurter Information Services, Inc. of Morton, Illinois, and Springfield-based Integrated Business Systems, Inc. (IBSI) in 1995; and MacKenzie & Roth, Inc. of St. Louis in 1999.

The acquisition of IBSI added an IBM hardware and software reseller to the LRS roster. This business function became the LRS IT Solutions group, a direct reseller of IBM System z mainframes and other systems. LRS IT Solutions achieved IBM Premier Business Partner status in 1999 and has maintained that status every year since.

LRS Campus
The early 1980s saw the growing LRS move out of its rented office space and purchase an office building on Springfield’s west side. That building was the first of four which now constitute the Westgate Office Plaza, also known as LRS Buildings 1 through 4.

In 1989 the company completed the main building of LRS headquarters, officially known as Building 5, which bears the company’s official postal address of 2401 West Monroe Street. Along with executive offices, Building 5 houses an auditorium and a two-story fitness center.

A year later the company completed Building 6, which is the home of LRS Education Services and LRS IT Solutions.

LRS finalized the trio of buildings that front West Monroe Street in 1999, constructing an office building and parking ramp between Buildings 5 and 6. This final building, home to the domestic EOM staff, is designated Building 7. The three buildings total more than 100,000 square feet of office space and are connected by an enclosed walkway.

The final structure on the campus, Building 8, was purchased and remodeled in 2001. Designated Building 8, it is located across Farragut Street from Building 5 and houses LRS System Sales and LRS Web Solutions.

= Tim Wilkerson Sponsorship = LRS became a sponsor of NHRA drag racer Tim Wilkerson’s funny car in 2000, when Wilkerson was entering 15 or 16 of the NHRA’s 23 races each year. Near the end of the 2002 season, LRS announced that it would increase its support and enable Wilkerson to compete in the tour’s full schedule. Since then, Wilkerson has won the US Nationals in Indianapolis in 2003 and finished second overall in 2008.

= LPGA Sponsorship = LRS has been a major local sponsor of the LPGA State Farm Classic since the early 90s, sponsoring the Golden Rail Tent when the event was played at The Rail Golf Course outside Springfield. After the Classic moved to Panther Creek Country Club, LRS sponsored the LRS Champions Club, which offers VIP benefits to tournament spectators.

= References = Desmond, John P. “System Integrators, Outsourcers Gain Again as IT Guards In-House Resources” Software Magazine, November 2010

Pilger, Hal. “Drag racer Wilkerson gets full-time commitment from LRS” State Journal-Register, September 20, 2002 accessed June 28, 2011

Landis, Tim. “Growing places / As business builds, so does Springfield's Levi, Ray and Shoup” State Journal-Register, June 13, 1998 accessed June 28, 2011

Kane, Dave. “Classic's next step / LPGA tourney organizers say challenge is finding new sponsor, or possibly sponsors” State Journal-Register, March 6, 2011 accessed August 1, 2011

“Integrated Business Systems purchased” State Journal-Register, December 1, 1995 accessed August 1, 2011

= External Links = Official website

Team Wilkerson website

LPGA State Farm Classic website