Southern Indiana Business Report
JASPER – A Jasper technology firm that specializes in serving research universities has been honored with the 2025 Triple Crown Award from CRN, a brand of The Channel Company.
PIER Group, Partners in Education and Research, provides IT solutions and cybersecurity to universities. It has provided large-scale upgrades to universities such as Notre Dame, the University of Maryland, UCLA, Indiana University and many others.
This elite distinction honors companies that earn a place on all three of CRN’s top industry lists—the Solution Provider 500, Fast Growth 150, and Tech Elite 250 — reflecting exceptional growth, technical mastery and innovation that sets new standards in connectivity.
Transforming institutions and landmarks
From the historic University of Notre Dame Stadium — the nation’s first university venue to activate Wi-Fi 6E Standard Power — to the New Orleans Superdome, PIER Group’s portfolio reflects the scale, precision and innovation that define the industry’s top integrators.
At Notre Dame, PIER Group helped modernize the 94-year-old stadium, overcoming the challenges of dense concrete and massive crowds to deploy 1,100+ HPE Aruba access points, 150 switches, and automated spectrum optimization through AFC technology. The result: a seamless, high-speed fan experience supporting real-time stats, streaming, ticketless entry, and future-ready applications like AR replays and IoT-based research —transforming a legendary venue into a year-round, data-driven destination.
“The Triple Crown represents everything our team stands for — collaboration, precision, and the drive to innovate,” said Chad Williams, president of PIER Group. “Whether we’re modernizing a century-old stadium or engineering a next-generation campus backbone, our goal is to deliver infrastructure that fuels discovery, connection, and community.”
Making any of the three lists is a notable achievement, but being featured on all three in the same year demonstrates an exceptional level of business acumen, focus on innovation and dedication to building technical expertise, noted PIER Group in a news release.
“We’re incredibly honored to be recognized by CRN as a 2025 Triple Crown Award winner,” said Amy Williams, CEO of PIER Group. “This recognition celebrates the hard work, expertise, and passion our team brings to what they do every single day. We’re proud to stand alongside so many outstanding partners who share our commitment to advancing technology that drives discovery and learning.”
This recognition underscores how a homegrown Indiana company is competing — and winning — at the same level as major national integrators. CEO Amy Williams was recently named to the WPO “50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies” list.
“Triple Crown Award winners represent the pinnacle of performance in the channel,” said Jennifer Follett, vice president, U.S. Content, Executive Editor, at CRN, The Channel Company. “These solution providers consistently demonstrate a deep commitment to technical excellence, innovation in their offerings and leadership across the industry. We applaud their achievements and look forward to watching them continue to set the standard for success.”
Campus network upgrades require months of planning. According to information provided by PIER Group, planning can take 12 to 15 months followed by 6 to 12 months of phased installation – often compressed into summer sprints when campuses are mostly quiet and dorms are empty.
Project costs vary widely:
- Smaller institutions may spend $2 million to $3 million
- Large R1 universities can invest $20 million to $30+ million
About PIER Group
PIER Group formed in early 2018, as the results of a group’s passion for the Research and Education industry. We are a team of professionals with an average of 30 years of experience serving the R&E community. At PIER Group, we are passionate about research and education, and work hard every day to continue delivering the best possible technology for the best possible value to R&E customers across the country.