Despite Growth, ePlus Flies Under The Radar

That's going to be a lot harder for ePlus this year. For one, the Herndon, Va.-based solution provider increased its revenue by more than 50 percent in 2003 to reach $249 million, making it one of the fastest-growing members of the VAR500 this year. Also, ePlus, which specializes in enterprise cost-management solutions, made a high-profile acquisition this spring, purchasing much of Manchester Technologies, a fellow VAR500 company with $286 million in sales.

As big as the Manchester deal is for the solution provider, Norton stresses that his company has been making strides without acquisitions as well. "We'll look at other acquisition opportunities, but we've also had a lot of organic growth with our services business," he says.

Norton, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who has served the company since 1993, has helped transform ePlus from a company that began as a computer-leasing business to a full solution provider with its own line of proprietary software and, most recently, IT services. The chief executive's next step is to continue strengthening ePlus' managed services and outsourcing operations and focus more on midmarket companies in need of enterprise-type functionality.

"The large integrators don't have the ability to reach down to the midmarket like we do," Norton says. "We're trying to provide strategic IT sourcing, software and services to companies that have never had it before."

Norton still expects that many larger integrators will pay little attention to ePlus, despite its acquisitions and growth rate, but he doesn't mind being underestimated. "A lot of people still view us a small player, and that's fine," Norton says. "It's fun to be the underdog."