VARs Merge: CompuCom Acquires Northern NEF

Officials of CompuCom Systems on Tuesday said the Dallas-based solution provider acquired Northern NEF, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Federal systems integrator and solution provider.

Officials of both companies said the acquisition is a good fit because of little overlap in their businesses.

"The acquisition of Northern NEF . . . brings us into the Federal marketplace where Northern NEF has an outstanding reputation for service quality," said Ed Coleman, chairman, president, and CEO of CompuCom, in a statement. "CompuCom's existing services will also expand the capabilities Northern NEF can bring to its Federal clients."

Ken Dyer, president and CEO of Northern NEF, told CRN that his business fills in holes at CompuCom and vice-versa.

"We have been in the Federal world for some time, and CompuCom has not," Dyer said. "CompuCom works with state governments, and we don't. We supply Unix systems, and they don't. They have advanced product distribution systems and can get products out in hours. We can't. That's a big plus in this business. And they are way ahead of us in getting vendor discounts."

Having CompuCom to handle the purchasing side of the business will allow Northern NEF to focus more on increasing sales, said Dyer. "Currently, everything that goes overseas has to come through us," he said. "With the acquisition, CompuCom can handle it. This is a big plus for us."

Northern NEF sells products around the world off the GSA schedule, and counts among its services clients the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Command. About 20 percent of its business is based on the Sun platform via products from GE Access, with the majority of the remainder a mix of platforms via distributors such as Ingram Micro and Tech Data, Dyer said.

Northern NEF was founded in 1987, and has averaged 20 percent growth in revenue since then, said Dyer. The company is a profitable one, a key attraction to CompuCom, he said. "This is one thing that interested CompuCom," he said. "They enjoyed talking to a profitable company."

Financial details related to the acquisition were not released.

Northern NEF is the second Colorado-based VAR to be acquired by another solution provider in the past five months. Forsythe Solutions Group, Skokie, Ill., in July acquired Enterprise Computing Inc. (ECI), an Englewood, Colo.-based solution provider. Forsythe, like ECI, was looking to fill a hole in its business, in this case looking to beef up its Western U.S. business.