About us

In the late 1980’s Jon Gross was a salesman for a plumbing supply company but played with computers in his basement. As a hobby (referred to by his wife as “the mistress”) he started a dial in bulletin board called Jon’s Bus Stop. It was related to educational issues in Manchester a subject Jon was fond of since he had two young children entering the system and a wife who was an educator. With the advent of the internet, Jon’s board became very popular and expanded to over 20 phone lines – all originating at his home in east Manchester off Candia Road. A childhood best friend, who’s background was in radio station management fell in love with the online service. Moving up from Attleboro, Massachusetts, Ed Lennon invested into Jon’s hobby and GroLen (Gross/Lennon) was born. A small shared office in the basement of 814 Elm Street became home for Manchester’s first internet provider. Ed & Jon decided to address many of the public’s computer needs, assembling computers with the hiring of a computer sales person from Sears, Frank Durham in 1994. An educational schoolhouse and Web/Networking departments followed. With the boom of the internet in the mid 1990’s, GroLen Communications also expanded – with stores on Louden Road in Concord and Lafayette Road in Portsmouth. The small office grew to two complete floors of the building at 814 Elm Street. Customer service for the internet, computer production, web site development and software education were all focal points. GroLen was recognized statewide and nationally and was the choice of many for their computer needs. The first web sites for The Union Leader and Manchester Police Department were projects GroLen was proudly involved in. The first computer systems delivered to The Manchester School District were GroLen products. Jon’s Bus Stop became EveryBaudy’s Online. GroLen was the first local service to bring election result live online and at our peak – our advertising budget and reach was extensive. GroLen shot many man on the street commercials, were in print every