Amazon’s (Nasdaq:AMZN) new Fire Phone announcement Wednesday came from the lips of CEO Jeff Bezos, but the world heard about the Internet retailer’s new smartphone thanks to the networks of Raleigh company TOURtech.

TOURtech, which provides networking and communications services for events, delivered the Internet pipe and the Wi-Fi network that Amazon used to demonstrate the device and the news media used to Tweet, blog and report on it.

“All the demonstrations that Jeff Bezos will be doing today will be done on a Wi-Fi network that we built; all the reporters pushing the message out will be doing so on a network that we put together,” TOURtech CEO Allen Cook said from Raleigh Wednesday during Bezos’ Fire Phone announcement.

TOURtech provides networking services to 100 concerts, festivals and corporate events a year. Amazon’s smartphone event was the fourth Amazon announcement TOURtech has supported.

This isn’t what Cook envisioned when he started working events as a lighting designer more than 10 years ago. Connections got him work with concert tours and he started to see their need for IT services. In 2004 he landed a big concert gig – IT support for musician Phil Collins’ First Final Farewell Tour. Wi-Fi was still new at the time, Cook recalled. In addition to providing a Wi-Fi network and basic security, Cook also provided phones via Voice over Internet Protocol.

In 2007, Cook formally turned his work into a new company: TOURtech became a touring IT company for concerts. The timing could not be better as outdoor music festivals were booming. Initially, the work requests were pretty simple, Cook said. TOURtech set up a rack system to support an event’s IT needs, which were mostly phones. Even two years ago, Wi-Fi was a “nice to have service.” That’s changed.

While wi-fi has become an amenity that meeting attendees and concert-goers expect, networking services are now essential for those putting on these events. Ticket sales, ticket scanning and merchandise purchases run on networks set up by TOURtech.

“We’re growing to meet the demands of business that really didn’t exist a few years ago,” Cook said.

From concerts to corporate events

As strong as the business was providing IT support for concerts, Cook saw that services also had corporate applications. TOURtech took its first corporate client in 2008. Since then TOURtech has added clients such as the National Football League and Nike. Cook was initially connected to Amazon by another event vendor,  both brought on to support Amazon’s Campfire launch. TOURtech has also supported Amazon event launches for Fire TV and the Kindle Fire.

Cook said he’s in discussions to provide support for the Calgary Stampede in Canada, which is the largest rodeo in North America. He sees sporting events as a major growth opportunity for TOURtech. While Cook acknowledged that there are IT support companies that work in convention centers and meeting halls, those companies work with existing infrastructure. His background working on outdoor concerts and festivals where there is little to no available infrastructure gives TOURtech an advantage.

“We’re not bound by the conventions that if it’s not there, we can’t do that,” Cook said. “If it’s not there, we’ll create it.”

Cook had initially launched TOURtech from Los Angeles but in 2009 he reincorporated in Raleigh explaining that he did not want to raise his family in Southern California. The move also allowed his family to be closer to his parents and his wife’s parents, who had retired to North Carolina. Cook acknowledged that there are larger event hubs where he could have moved but he says the company can operate anywhere and Raleigh offers lower business costs compared to those larger markets.

TOURtech has no proprietary technology. The company just offers its IT support and networking services using equipment available from a variety of vendors. But Cook said TOURtech is working with Cisco Systems (Nasdaq:CSCO) on a wi-fi system intended for use at festivals. That system is still in development.

Starting R&D

With revenue coming in the door from the beginning, Cook was able to finance TOURtech’s growth without outside investment. The company currently employs eight full time along with a crew of about 25 contractors who work for TOURtech depending on the project. As TOURtech’s business grows – annual revenue now stands at more than $2 million – Cook could hire some of them full time.

He’s also looking to hire for research and development. This technical work would not be for developing proprietary technology. Instead, the work involves taking technology that’s already commercially available and applying it for uses in the events space. He declined to give more details, explaining that he doesn’t want to tip off potential competitors.

For this R&D work, Cook last year took on TOURtech’s first outside funding, $230,000 in angel investment.

TOURtech may seek more investors. The company’s current client base is only in North America but Cook says TOURtech’s services could be used throughout the world. Europe is a potential market, though Cook acknowledged that the United Kingdom already has some vendors who would compete with TOURtech. The company is also exploring the possibility of doing work for a large festival in China, an opportunity that came from a website inquiry.

“We incorporated in 2007, year over year growth has been 70 percent, that’s all been word of mouth. ” Cook said. “We’ve grown to where we are just by reputation alone and this is the first year of any real concentrated marketing effort.”