Impulse Advanced Communications, founded in 1995 by Ken Alker, Tony Papa and Jim Pisani, was one of the first companies to bring the Internet to Santa Barbara 15 years ago.

Chris Rose, director of sales and marketing at Impulse, said the Internet has become more of a commodity with the rise of companies such as Cox Communications and Verizon, and that Impulse’s “boutique” and hands-on approach are elements of the company that Santa Barbara clients can rely on.

“All these tech companies in Goleta and Santa Barbara use the Internet far greater than other companies, so they come to us for unique solutions they wouldn’t get from other companies,” Rose said. “They’ll come to us because we really know the Internet and can do complex stuff. We’ve started getting a reputation for that because we provide expertise to the field.”

Among Impulse’s most popular services are Voice T1 PRI 2.0, part of a business phone infrastructure. The system allows for remote employees to be integrated into the phone system, such as linking employees in India to Santa Barbara by giving them 805 area code phone numbers. FailSafe Internet is another popular feature. Impulse routes two Internet connections instead of just one, giving the customer security in that the Internet will still work if one of the connections fails.

“We pick at least two different kinds of cables to mitigate something happening, and this is FailSafe Internet,” Rose said. “We’re the only Internet provider that will do that for you.”

Rose said Impulse streamlines the communications platform for its Central Coast clients.

“There are plenty of Internet providers and consultants, but you’re always working with multiple companies in that case,” Rose said. “You can get a fancy phone line with a different brand of telephone, but we do all of it so we can guarantee it works. We pre-test all of our solutions to make sure they work well so we can bring a complete solution to a customer.”

Impulse customers include ABC-CLIO, Deckers Outdoor Corp., Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Territory Ahead and The Towbes Group.

“Most of our clients are slightly larger companies that are a little more complex and have to care about their communications platform,” Rose said. “Select Staffing is a $1.5 billion company that can’t let Internet problems bring them down.”

Rose credits the Central Coast’s word-of-mouth based business community for Impulse’s success.

“One of our clients is an Oxnard company called CalAmp,” he said. “The IT guy from CalAmp had a beer with a guy who worked for the Ventura County Star and … the Ventura County Star is now our client, too.”

Impulse launched a Web site featuring videos, customer testimonials and a blog with technology articles to increase the company’s marketing presence on the Web.

“Because we’re locally focused, we can’t have services and products that don’t work,” Rose said. “Santa Barbara is such a small town and people will talk. We do cold calling and networking events, and we’re trying to do more with the Web. People who work with us tend to love us and stay our customer for a long time. … We’ll be at your business in 15 minutes to chat with you about whatever communications complications you’re facing.”

Impulse plans to host its annual party on April 7. Click here for more information and to RSVP.

— Noozhawk business writer Taylor Orr can be reached at torr@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkBiz, @noozhawk or @NoozhawkNews. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.