A venerable powerhouse once again leads our listing of the 500 top revenue-producing solution providers with a North American headquarters. But the runner-up is no stranger to the VAR500, securing the No. 2 slot by scooping up a large integrator in 2008.

Despite the economic recession, these companies, through the leadership of their management, persevered. In fact, the top 25 integrators had revenue of roughly $343 billion, down just 2 percent from last year.

Here are the 25 companies, along with their CEOs or top executives, that earned the highest revenue in 2009 compared with the year before.

Joseph Tucci
2009 Revenue: $5.2 billion

EMC has a number of consulting areas of expertise, including collaboration, integration and migration, and Microsoft platforms. Its service arm focuses on streamlining customers’ business processes, creating agile solutions and making a business’ information more accessible by its employees. Joseph Tucci has been CEO of EMC for 10 years, and led the company’s diversification into services.

Michael Strianese
2009 Revenue: $5.5 billion

Michael Strianese has been president and CEO of L-3 since 2006 and two years ago became chairman. He joined L-3 at its inception in 1997; annual sales were then $700 million.

The military contractor saw a small decline in revenue in this first quarter, to $3.62 billion from $3.64 billion. Although its communications and intelligence segment rose 11 percent, its government services, aircraft maintenance and electronic systems segments declined.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran
2009 Revenue: $6 billion

TCS revenue grew 8 percent in 2009 from the year prior. TCS is a subsidiary of one of India’s largest and oldest conglomerates, the Tata Group, and is also the largest IT provider in India. Leading the charge is CEO Natarajan Chandrasekaran— who is also an M.D. Chandrasekaran was recently voted as the best CEO in India, featured in FinanceAsia magazine’s annual poll of investors and analysts.

Mike Wilson
2009 Revenue: $6.3 billion

ITT is a 60-year-old defense contractor that offers technology and services to military, government and commercial customers. It provides communications, sensing and surveillance, space and advanced engineering and integrated services for its clients. Mike Wilson, president of ITT Information Systems, joined ITT in 1986.

In January, ITT realigned its defense segment, including its IT business, by consolidating seven business units into three.

Lynn Blodgett
2009 Revenue: $6.6 billion

Lynn Blodgett, CEO of Affiliated Computer Services since 2006, became president and CEO of ACS Inc., A Xerox Co., when the VAR was bought by Xerox in February. He is also an executive vice president of Xerox Corp. (see No. 17, slide 10)

Blodgett is a pioneer in the business process outsourcing market. In 1985, he and his brother co-founded Unibase, a data entry company. Unibase was acquired by ACS in 1996.

Reinhard Clemens
2009 Revenue: $6.8 billion

T-Systems CEO Reinhard Clemens began his career at IBM and later was president of EDS in Germany. T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telecom, has roughly 25,000 employees; approximately 15,000 are involved in systems integration.

The integrator recently said it would partner with energy and automation technology specialist ABB to develop smart grid solutions in Germany.

Thierry Breton
2009 Revenue: $6.92 billion

Atos Origin’s first-quarter revenue dropped 4.9 percent, but the IT solution provider said a recovery is now under way as orders improved sharply and it confirmed its full-year targets. The solution provider recently launched the Atos WorldGrid Subsidiary, which focuses on solutions for smart utilities and energy. Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos Origin, said he predicts WorldGrid will be a worldwide leader in smart energy.

John Chambers
2009 Revenue: $6.98 billion

In addition to partnering with VARs, Cisco, led by Chairman and CEO John Chambers, has its own branch for integration. It offers consultative planning, solution development and deployment to help clients optimize IT services, integrate new technologies and enhance network performance, availability and security. In addition, Cisco partners with VMware to create an end-to-end data center virtualization strategy.

Lynn Blodgett
2009 Revenue: $7.8 billion

In February, Xerox acquired Affiliated Computer Services, melding the integrator into its Xerox Services arm. In April, Xerox reported revenue from services grew 3 percent. “Annuity revenue is also significantly strengthened by our growing services portfolio with business process outsourcing up 8 percent on a pro forma basis in the first quarter,” said Xerox CEO Ursula Burns in a statement.

Lynn Blodgett, CEO of ACS since 2006, is president and CEO of ACS Inc., A Xerox Corp. (see No. 21, slide 6)

Gregory Brown
2009 Revenue: $7.96 billion

Gregory Brown, co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of Motorola Solutions, joined Motorola in 2003 and was elected to the company’s board of directors in 2007. Motorola recently said it would split into two separate publicly traded companies in the first quarter of 2011. Each of the two companies will retain the Motorola name: one will focus on its mobile device and set-top box businesses, while the other company will focus on its enterprise networking segment.

John Edwardson
2009 Revenue: $8 billion

John Edwardson has been CEO since 2001. The privately held provider of technology products and services was recently named VMware’s Americas SMB Partner of the Year. CDW has also partnered with TKC Integration Services, a subsidiary of Qivliq, a disadvantaged small business providing IT enterprise technology products and services to the government, on a five-year agreement to deliver Microsoft server, desktop and collaboration software to the Department of Energy.

Peter Altabef
2009 Revenue: $9.2 billion

The goal of Dell’s purchase and subsequent integration of Perot Systems into a broader Dell Services organization is to make it easier for customers to access and manage IT solutions. Dell acquired Perot Systems in November 2009.

“Dell now has a comprehensive and growing set of leading solutions that meet customer needs so they can manage their IT most efficiently,” said Dell Services President Peter Altabef in a statement a month after the acquisition.

Joseph Doody
2009 Revenue: $9.6 billion

As president of Staples Advantage, part of Joseph Doody’s responsibilities includes overseeing the business that serves midsize to Fortune 1000 business. Computer sales grew by double digits in the fourth quarter of 2009. IT products including wireless networking devices and all-in-one printers also saw a boost in sales. Its EasyTech business, which offers tech services, doubled vs. the same period in 2008.

Walt Havenstein
2009 Revenue: $10.1 billion

In its last fiscal year, SAIC reached the $10 billion milestone, with revenue growth of 13 percent vs. 2009. SAIC is a technology applications company with 45,000 employees that has customers in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure and health sectors. SAIC forges relationships with small businesses, particularly those that are veteran-owned. CEO Walt Havenstein, fresh from his tenure at BAE, took the reins in September 2009.

Punit Renjen
2009 Revenue: $10.7 billion

One of the world’s largest management consulting firms, Deloitte teams help clients achieve their goals. “Human capital” professionals specialize in integrating business, HR and talent strategies, while strategy and operations teams offer industry experience and analytical capabilities. Technology teams work with business leaders to apply innovative solutions. Punit Renjen took over last fall as CEO.

Paul Hermelin
2009 Revenue: $11.6 billion

The provider of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, led by CEO Paul Hermelin, recently launched a new suite called Infostructure Transformation Services that will help its clients realize the business benefits of cloud computing and services. Four offerings within Infostructure Transformation Services will help customers move toward the cloud: data center optimization and consolidation, virtualization, unified communications, and cloud-based solutions.

Linda Gooden
2009 Revenue: $12.2 billion

IS&GS’ 45,000 professionals provide integrated information technology solutions, systems and services to support worldwide missions of civil, defense, intelligence and other government customers. Linda Gooden, executive vice president of IS&GS, is a proponent of using cloud technology within government solutions, noting its promise for reducing infrastructure and application development costs while giving users access to data and services.

Wes Bush
2009 Revenue: $12.8 billion

Wes Bush took the CEO reins in January and made waves his first day by saying he’d be moving headquarters from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., to better serve its No. 1 customer, the U.S. government. The company had been based in California since 1939. During a conference call in April in which he announced better-than- expected profits, Bush told stock analysts that recent changes in the firm’s deal with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency mean there is “better alignment between the customer and ourselves.”

Jean-Paul Herteman
2009 Revenue: $14.8 billion

Safran intimated during last year’s earnings call that 2010 would be challenging. For the first quarter of 2010, revenue totaled 2.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion), down 2.5 percent vs. a year ago. The company is in the aerospace industry, based in France with U.S. headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M. “As expected, the aerospace market remained volatile in the first three months of the year. However, we believe that improvements are definitely on the horizon,” said CEO Jean-Paul Herteman.

Mike Laphen
2009 Revenue: $16.7 billion

Fifty-year-old CSC provides technology services through its 92,00 employees to customers in health care, public sector, financial services and manufacturing. President and CEO Mike Laphen has led CSC as president since 2003 and was elected CEO in 2007. He joined the company in 1977 and has held a number of senior positions involving technical, financial and general management experiences in diverse commercial, public-sector and international markets.

William Green
2009 Revenue: $21.6 billion

Accenture is a global management consultant, providing technology and outsourcing services and helping customers achieve higher-performance goals.

“We are seeing increasing momentum in many areas of our business, as clients are starting to look to the future and to focus on growth and revenue enhancement along with continued improvements in operating efficiency,” said Chairman and CEO William Green in a statement on the company’s 2010 second-quarter results.

Virginia Ruesterholz
2009 Revenue: $24 billion

Verizon continues to fare well, with revenue increasing. Its wireless segment saw subscribers increase by 4.4 percent. Verizon’s other business segment, Wireline, provides customers with communication services. It also provides next-generation IP network services and communications solutions to midsize and large businesses and government customers.

Virginia Ruesterholz is president of Verizon Telecom.

Daniel Hesse
2009 Revenue: $25.3 billion

The company best known for its mobile phones and carrier services is also a player in mobile solutions. For example, in collaboration with GE Healthcare, Sprint deploys custom network solutions that are transforming hospitals across the country into a fully converged infrastructure.

Sprint is continuing its customer service drive and is seeing a positive return, said President and CEO Daniel Hesse. Customer satisfaction has improved for the ninth consecutive quarter, he said.

Ann Livermore
2009 Revenue: $34.7 billion

Ann Livermore has been part of HP for more than 20 years. She currently leads the Technology Solutions Group, which encompasses enterprise storage and servers, software and services and which absorbed EDS in 2008. Its products and services serve business and public-sector customers in more than 170 countries. Overall, HP’s revenue grew in the first quarter, although services revenue fell 1 percent to $8.7 billion. HP restated figures in March due to a lawsuit involving its EDS unit.

Sam Palmisano
2009 Revenue: $55 billion

IBM Global Services is the professional services arm of IBM, including management consulting, systems integration and application management services.

At IBM’s CIO Leadership Exchange in Barcelona, Spain, CEO Sam Palmisano offered these remarks: “As our planet becomes instrumented, interconnected and intelligent, the computing model is evolving to support it. Think of it as the industrialization of IT. Over the past generation, our digital infrastructures have become very complex and inefficient, so now we’re optimizing them through automation, creating systems that are highly tuned to the specific workloads they run.”