SP500 Winner: Security - Nexum Takes Holistic Approach

"Knowledge transfer is a very big thing for us, and we provide hands-on training services in four different locations, including Albuquerque, Chicago, Cincinnati and Westford, Mass.," said President and CTO David Lesser. "The company started out with the premise of doing what was best for the client, and we continue to work that way to this very day."

While the 10-year-old Chicago VAR is mostly focused on security, it also addresses other technologies, such as networking.

"We've tried to classify our products into specific areas so that we can take a holistic approach to infrastructure," explained Lesser. "We can do routing, switching, applications or anything else, but it all fits underneath our security portfolio."

Nexum in 2005 expanded its traditional reselling model into the managed services arena in response to customer requests to move beyond level-one and level-two support. "It's a challenging sale," said Lesser. "The managed services transition is not an easy one, and the sales cycles are much longer. We've had the most success when the client decides to outsource their security. We can then free them to work on problems that are core to their organizations."

Lesser said he believes the future of security is very much predicated upon the next level of threats, particularly around mobility, wireless networks and the migration to IPv6.