About GTC Systems

The History of GTC Systems - Modest beginnings and a Daring Vision

GTC Systems Inc. was founded in March of 1995 by Keith Michael Esshaki (current CEO) and his sister Holly (who left the company in July 2004). 

GTC stands for “Global Technology Consulting” which was the original name of the company. Since the beginning, the vision of the founders was to be a distinguished IT solutions consulting and services firm with a global footprint.

GTC Systems Inc. grew from very modest beginnings in 1995 as a PC builder and reseller to a distinguished nationwide provider of information technology solutions firm by the year 2001, offering IT consulting, training, staffing and managed services solutions.

Since 1996 GTC embraced centralized application delivery using the Citrix platform as the main core competency and go-to-market strategy. This focused strategy distinguished GTC from the competition and proved to be one of the main reasons for GTC’s continued success and longevity.

Since 1997 GTC has been the only Citrix Platinum Partner in San Diego County and one of less than 70 nationwide.

GTC was started in a 1000 square foot suite in the San Diego-Miramar area. 

In the beginning, the two founders worked day and night, selling in the morning and building PC’s at night. Initially the main business was a VAR building and selling personal computers, hardware and software products to corporate and government customers.

At one point in 2001, GTC grew to $14 million in gross revenue and 75-employees. Besides the company headquarters in San Diego, GTC also opened branches in Irvine, Los Angeles and Phoenix.  The business had grown from PC building to a first class IT consulting and services firm.

After the dot com crash and 9/11 the technology industry suffered a downturn that affected GTC. In July of 2004 Holly left the company and Keith became the sole owner of a business that was in debt and struggling to maintain consistent profitability.

Keith decided to take a home equity loan to continue to fund the business against all odds. He refused to give up because he loves the IT services business and had a lot of sweat and blood invested in a company with impeccable reputation, dedicated team members, loyal customers and strong vendor partnerships. Keith told his wife Amy “I need your approval and backing. I want to take a home equity loan to continue to fund the business. The worst that can happen is that we lose the business and our home. If that happens we can rent an apartment, I get a new job and start all over again.” Amy gave her husband Keith her full moral support. That is all he needed at the time.

With much tenacity and hard work, Keith and many GTC Team Members were able to weather all storms and thrust GTC to an award winning and consistently profitable IT solutions and services firm. 

In 2005 GTC Systems was given the award of top Citrix partner in the Western region covering 15 states and received a nationwide award for highest most consistent score card.