County grants IT firm $200K

SARASOTA — The Sarasota County Commission officially approved $200,000 in relocation and expansion subsidies for a local technology company that plans 50 new jobs over five years.

In a growing trend, moreover, the owner of the business, in this case Thomas Frost of Datum Corp., an IT services firm, put up a personal guaranty to secure the incentives. Founded in 2002, Datum specializes in working with retail and restaurant chains. It seeks to hire network engineers, help desk support specialists, project managers and sales executives, Frost said in a statement released earlier this year.

Datum recently bought an 11,365-square-foot building in the Lakewood Ranch Corporate Park, which will be the firm's headquarters. Datum paid $975,000 for the building, formerly the corporate office for Lee Wetherington Homes.

Frost was named to the Business Review's 40 under 40 list of local top young businesspeople this year.