2007 Fast Growth 100: Company Profiles

NWN

Mont Phelps is careful when describing his recipe for success.

"We are definitely not a rollup," said the president and CEO of NWN, the Waltham, Mass.-based solution provider whose net sales for the years 2004 to 2006 soared more than 2,282 percent in large part due to a series of solution provider acquisitions.

Rather than simply buying companies at random to gain top-line revenue, Phelps looks for strategic acquisitions. NWN focuses on project-based professional services, managed services that involve the ongoing care and feeding of IT networks, and professional IT staffing. Within those areas, Phelps cites "four technical pillars"—unified communications, information security, data storage and disaster recovery, and enterprise computing.

"We also align with Cisco, HP, EMC and Microsoft," he said. "We are looking for companies that are strong in one of our areas of focus and have at least some involvement in others."

Once NWN acquires a solution provider, it then sells products and services built around other vendor relationships or technical expertise. He said companies tend to buy the gamut of products and services NWN offers and the company simply goes deeper into the acquired company's existing accounts. Now that Phelps feels he has the recipe for growth perfected, he sees nothing but upside. "We are a solid organization that grew $100 million last year, and I expect to grow $100 million this year. Once you get the recipe right, all you have to do is add water and stir," he said.

Craig Zarley

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