DeWITT — Critical Link, LLC expects increasing amounts of revenue in the coming years from its own line of products.

The firm began in 1997 working with customers on ground-up development of advanced computing components. Along the way, it developed its own line of processors that are now key components in everything from wind turbines and medical products to industrial instrumentation and quality-control technology.

About a quarter of Critical Link’s revenue comes from its products with the remainder generated from its continuing contract work for clients on product development and engineering. The goal for the next few years is to flip that ratio, says Thomas Catalino, vice president and a co-founder of the company.

“It’s an exciting time for us,” he says. “We’re in a market that’s growing. More and more customers are heading this way with their designs. The market has kind of developed alongside of us.”

Critical Link began developing its line of processors around 2004 to help address overseas competition for its services-based business, Catalino says. The product that resulted, known as the MityDSP, helps customers take advantage of the increasing computing power made possible by technology from firms like Intel and Texas Instruments (TI).

The firm released the latest product in its line, the MityARM-3359, in May.

The type of component Critical Link designed has been growing in popularity over the years. That means more competition, but also more opportunity, Catalino says.

The company is bullish on the prospects for its products in part because of the close relationship it cultivated with TI, he adds. The firm is one of about two dozen companies around the country designated as platinum members of TI’s Design Network.

The group represents the TI’s elite-level design partners, Catalino says, and the relationship is providing a strong boost for Critical Link. The partnership also helped connect the company with some of the leading catalog distributors in the semiconductor space, including Mouser Electronics, Digi-Key, and Avnet.

“Customers are now able to just go on the Web, find our product, click buy, and grab it,” Catalino says. “They’re going all over the world.”

Critical Link’s products now routinely wind up as far away as Europe and China, he adds. The relationship with the catalog distributors is also helping the company tap into industry sectors it wouldn’t have accessed as quickly on its own.

The company employs about 30 people and is looking to add three or four more in the coming months, Catalino says. The firm, he adds, is just at the beginning of its growth potential.

And while product revenue is expected to grow, it won’t come at the cost of the company’s service business, Catalino says. Its product sales will simply make up a bigger overall slice of total revenue.

In fact, product sales can drive more contract work since clients often need help with designs based on Critical Link’s processors.

Critical Link declined to disclose its revenue total.

Catalino founded Critical Link with John Fayos, Omar Rahim, and David Rice. All four founders are still involved with the company. The firm is based in a 12,000-square-foot office at 6712 Brooklawn Parkway in DeWitt.