2017 Fast Growth 150: The Top 50

Outpacing The Pack

While many solution providers face difficulty adapting to a changing global IT landscape, other channel players are thriving in a world suddenly defined by cloud, IoT, mobility, new cybersecurity threats and other disruptive technologies.

The Fast Growth 150 is CRN's annual ranking of the channel's most rapidly expanding solution providers, technology integrators, IT consultants and strategic service providers in North America. The list requires companies report gross sales of at least $1 million, and then ranks them according to their two-year growth rate.

Here are the top 50 companies, with the full list available here.

50. Security On-Demand

Location: San Diego

Website: www.securityondemand.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 90.97%

Top Executive: Peter Bybee, President, CEO

One of the rising stars in the MSSP space, Security On-Demand offers subscription-based "security-as-a-service" packages with behavioral analysis, threat analytics platform and next-generation SOC functionality. In May, the company acquired Infobright Approximate Query technology and related IP from Infobright, which promises to enhance the speed and sophistication of SOD's data analysis capabilities.

49. Entech

Location: Fort Myers, Fla.

Website: www.entechUS.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 91.14%

Top Executive: Jake Spanberger, President

Entech provides security, business continuity, IT planning and infrastructure services to small businesses in the education, legal, medical, finance and insurance, manufacturing, construction, nonprofit and property management verticals. The MSP has brought on a systems engineer and two outside sales representatives for its business development team this year.

48. Future Tech Enterprise

Location: Holbrook, N.Y.

Website: www.ftei.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 92.8%

Top Executive: Bob Venero, President & CEO

Future Tech Enterprise provides wireless networking, help desk, security, contract services, procurement solutions, midrange systems, and modern media solutions to enterprise, midmarket and SMB customers alike. The company, No. 119 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, works with more than 700 vendors, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell.

47. SS&C Technologies

Location: Windsor, Conn.

Website: www.ssctech.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 92.93%

Top Executive: William Stone, CEO

SS&C Technologies provides managed services and cloud-based software and services to the global financial services industry. The company, No. 33 on the CRN SP 500, has recently bought asset services firm Conifer for $88.5 million, CRM developer Salentica, and middle and back-office-management-focused Wells Fargo Global Fund Services.

46. GuidePoint Security

Location: Herndon, Va.

Website: www.guidepointsecurity.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 93.6%

Top Executive: Michael Volk, Managing Partner

GuidePoint, No. 134 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, holds technical certifications from big-name vendors including Amazon Web Services, Cisco Systems, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Intel and Microsoft. The expanding solutions and services provider has partnerships with most major security vendors and maintains strong footing in the commercial and federal sectors.

45. Onepath

Location: Atlanta

Website: www.1path.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 94.09%

Top Executive: Ben Balsley, CEO

Onepath provides managed IT services, cloud services, network and system engineering, unified communications, deployed services, and building technologies, with a focus on the legal and health-care verticals. Onepath, No. 131 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, was named the sixth fastest-growing middle-market company in Georgia by the Atlanta Chapter of The Association for Corporate Growth.

44. Thrive Networks

Location: Tewksbury, Mass.

Website: www.thrivenetworks.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 101.97%

Top Executive: Rob Stephenson, CEO

Thrive Networks provides cloud, cybersecurity, networking, disaster recovery, managed IT, compliance and regulatory, and professional services to enterprise, midsize and small businesses alike. The company, No. 437 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, was purchased by private equity firm M/C Partners and merged into recently acquired solution provider Corporate IT Solutions of Norwood, Mass.

43. CTL

Location: Beaverton, Ore.

Website: www.ctl.net

2-Year Growth Rate: 101.99%

Top Executive: Erik Stromquist, President

CTL designs and produces Google Chromebooks, desktop and mobile computers, LED monitors and servers, with noted expertise in providing education solutions. President Erik Stromquist told CRN in May 2015 that nearly 30 percent of CTL's revenue was accounted for by its fast-growing Chromebook business, which now features 10 models intended for use in academic settings.

42. RoundTower Technologies

Location: Cincinnati

Website: www.roundtower.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 103.28%

Top Executive: Stephen West & Stephen Power, Managing Partners

RoundTower Technologies provides automation and cloud, collaboration and mobility, data analytics, data center infrastructure, DevOps, managed services, professional services, residency services and security services to businesses. The company, No. 91 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, bought highly specialized firm Mainstream Security, and expanded into Jackson, Miss. and Charleston, S.C.

41. Agosto

Location: Minneapolis

Website: www.agosto.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 103.63%

Top Executive: Irfan Khan, CEO

A Google Premier Partner that's been in business since 2001, Agosto offers Enterprise Google services, IoT product development and digital signage. The company developed the MQTT broker – an industry-standard messaging protocol for sensors and mobile devices – used in Google Cloud's IOT services until May, when the Silicon Valley giant released its own product, Cloud IoT Core.

40. Diversified

Location: Kenilworth, N.J.

Website: www.diversifiedus.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 107.7%

Top Executive: Fred D'Alessandro, President, CEO

Systems engineering services provider Diversified specializes in the implementation of audiovisual technology for professional broadcast purposes, corporate communications, and digital signage networks. The company – No. 60 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500 – launched a consulting business in May aimed at improving the production, newsroom, channel management and broadcast operations of Diversified's media and entertainment clients.

39. Vantage Point Corporation (VPC)

Location: Kenosha, Wis.

Website: www.vpcinnovations.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 109.52%

Top Executive: Nick Preuss, CEO

Direct technology reseller VPC, a top-five company on the last two Fast Growth 150 lists, is charging ahead thanks to fast-rising demand for its hardware procurement, data center, web hosting and strategic consulting services. Primarily serving the SMB market, VPC internally uses a proprietary channel application meant to improve the solution provider's procurement procedures, quoting accuracy and technical support.

38. Atlas Professional Services

Location: Tampa, Fla.

Website: www.atlasps.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 109.95%

Top Executive: Gregory Zolkos, CEO

Atlas Professional Services provides managed IT, cloud computing services, custom IT services, and virtual CIO services, serving everyone from large corporate offices to small startup companies. The company works closely with vendors such as 3CX, Cisco Systems, Citrix Systems, Datto, Dell, Microsoft, SonicWall and VMware.

37. Red Sky Solutions

Location: Draper, Utah

Website: www.goredsky.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 112.72%

Top Executive: Christopher Barney, CEO

Red Sky focuses on cost-effective, security-forward IT strategy solutions, including consultation and implementation services centered around networking, storage, app delivery and virtualization. The solution provider hired Chris Pinckney as vice presdient of marketing in February with the goal of expanding its strategy beyond the channel's traditional events-centric marketing tactics.

36. The KR Group

Location: Grand Rapids, Mich.

Website: www.krgroup.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 115.29%

Top Executive: Matthew Keeler, CEO

The KR Group provides managed services, remote management and monitoring, collaboration and communication, and bare-metal, virtualized or cloud server deployments to customers in the education, health-care and manufacturing verticals. The company works closely with vendors such as Cisco Systems, PureStorage, Microsoft, Veeam, VMware and Vertiv.

35. US Tech Solutions

Location: Jersey City, N.J.

Website: www.ustechsolutions.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 115.77%

Top Executive: Manoj Agarwal, CEO

A newcomer on last year's Fast Growth 150, staffing and recruiting firm US Tech Solutions provides talent solutions to businesses in several different industries, including financial services, health care, life sciences, telecom and retail. Among those clients are nearly 100 members of the Fortune 500. US Tech was founded in 2000 and operates 40 locations across the U.S., Canada, Europe and India.

34. Coretelligent

Location: Westwood, Mass.

Website: www.coretelligent.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 117.42%

Top Executive: Kevin Routhier, CEO

Coretelligent provides IT support, private cloud, and backup and disaster recovery services to clients in the financial services, life sciences, and technology verticals. The company, No. 476 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, received an investment from private equity firm VSS, and brought in a new chief operating officer and general counsel, as well as a senior manager of field service.

33. Netrepid

Location: Harrisburg, Pa.

Website: www.netrepid.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 120.34%

Top Executive: Sam Coyl, President & CEO

Netrepid offers co-location services, hosted exchange, virtual servers, virtual desktops, cloud computing, infrastructure hosting and application hosting to customers in the accounting, government, health-care and legal verticals. The company is a Citrix Silver Solution Advisor and Service Provider, a Juniper Elite Enterprise Solution Provider, and a Microsoft Silver Certified Partner.

32. Green House Data

Location: Cheyenne, Wyo.

Website: www.greenhousedata.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 121.14%

Top Executive: Shawn Mills, President

Green House provides a wide range of data center services – including cloud hosting, co-location and several other managed IT capabilities – build around 10 different U.S. facilities. The company expanded its geographic footprint in June with the addition of a cloud and disaster recovery data center in Dallas.

31. Edgile

Location: Austin, Texas

Website: www.edgile.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 121.41%

Top Executive: Don Elledge, CEO

A cybersecurity services provider, Edgile works with more than 45 Fortune 500 companies in the areas of security strategy, risk and compliance, access management and cloud services. Edgile, a Microsoft Gold Partner, was recognized for its excellence at 2017 Microsoft Inspire, where it took part in a global roundtable of top security partners.

30. Scalar Decisions

Location: Toronto

Website: www.scalar.ca

2-Year Growth Rate: 121.85%

Top Executive: Paul Kerr, President & CEO

Scalar Decisions provides security, infrastructure and cloud services to clients. The company, No. 95 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, recently launched a cloud-based Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) solution allowing customers to copy backups of their data to AWS or Microsoft Azure data centers that can be restored in case of an attack.

29. 2nd Watch

Location: Seattle

Website: www.2ndwatch.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 123.26%

Top Executive: Doug Schneider, CEO

2nd Watch is an AWS-exclusive managed cloud provider delivering digital marketing, business applications, and big data and analytics to customers in the financial services, insurance, life sciences, consumer packaged goods, media and entertainment, and retail verticals. The company, No. 336 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, received $19 million in funding from Delta-v Capital to fuel further growth.

28. Incedo

Location: Santa Clara, Calif.

Website: www.incedoinc.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 128.64%

Top Executive: Tejinderpal Miglani, CEO

Incedo provides data management, business intelligence, mobile solutions, data analytics, cloud, virtualization, cognitive frameworks and IoT to end users in the financial services, life sciences and communication engineering verticals. The company, No. 384 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, has acquired 27 new clients and retained 90 percent of its current clients for new projects.

27. Adapture

Location: Atlanta

Website: www.adapture.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 129.59%

Top Executive: Robert Pastor, President

Adapture provides security, cloud, server, storage, networking and virtualization solutions to entities in the public sector, health-care, retail, manufacturing, energy, finance and entertainment verticals. The company, No. 421 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, has joined the Gigamon Professional Services Partner Program and the F5 Networks Guardian Professional Services Partner Program.

26. NGEN

Location: Largo, Md.

Website: www.ngen.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 135.5%

Top Executive: Terry Speigner, President, CEO

Working with SMB businesses in the private sector and government agencies at the state, local and federal levels, managed services provider NGEN focuses on delivering security, cloud and consulting services to its clients. The privately held company was recognized by CRN as a MSP Pioneer 250 solution provider in February for its cutting-edge approach to the MSP business model.

25. Cloud for Good

Location: Asheville, N.C.

Website: www.cloud4good.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 144%

Top Executive: Tal Frankfurt, CEO

Cloud for Good provides managed services, strategy, marketing and social, fundraising and finance, and programs and services to clients in the higher education, nonprofit, arts and cultural, environmental, religious, health and wellness and human services verticals. The company works closely with Salesforce, FinancialForce, Intacct and B Lab.

24. DH Technologies

Location: Leesburg, Va.

Website: www.dhtech.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 148.1%

Top Executive: Devin Henderson, CEO

When DH Technologies launched in 2013, the company chose to build its strategy around emerging technologies and the disruptive vendors developing them, such as Nutanix's hyper-converged capabilities. The move paid off, as thesolution provider hit a two-year growth rate of 1,864.4 percent that landed it atop the 2016 Fast Growth 150 list. "It's been a ride," Henderson told CRN last August.

23. Aspire Technology Partners

Location: Eatontown, N.J.

Website: www.aspiretransforms.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 152.73%

Top Executive: John Harris, President & CEO

Aspire began life in 2004 as a humble six-person firm. In the years since, the Cisco Gold partner has experienced remarkable growth, expanding its staff to more than 80 employees thanks to the addition of some "really talented" salespeople and a blossoming public sector business in the Northeast. Aspire's areas of focus include unified communications, security, data center and virtualization capabilities and mobility.

22. Epic Machines, Inc.

Location: San Francisco

Website: www.epicmachines.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 153.12%

Top Executive: David Gottesman, CEO

Epic Machines provides cloud, security, talent staffing, managed network services, campus, mobile and data center solutions, with a focus on the state and local government, and education verticals. The company earlier this year launched its business enablement platform and won Splunk's Partner of the Year award in 2016.

21. CorpInfo

Location: Santa Monica, Calif.

Website: www.corpinfo.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 160.29%

Top Executive: Michael Sabourian, President

To put CorpInfo's growth into perspective, the Amazon Web Services consultant has gone from unranked to No. 350 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500 in the last two years. The solution provider recently became one of the first seven companies to earn an AWS competency distinction for partners that help enterprise customers store large amounts of data in the public cloud.

20. n2Grate

Location: Greenbelt, Md.

Website: www.n2grate.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 161.89%

Top Executive: Steve Halligan, President & COO

n2grate offers infrastructure assessment, virtualization, project management, virtual desktop, end-user training, staffing and cloud and co-location solutions to the federal government, the public sector and large businesses. The company, No. 284 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, works closely with Cisco Systems, Dell, EMC, HP Inc., IBM, Microsoft and VMware.

19. The SMB Help Desk

Location: Chicago

Website: www.thesmbhelpdesk.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 166.6%

Top Executive: Marvin Korves, President

As its name would imply, the IT consultant provides Salesforce and Microsoft solutions, infrastructure support and managed services to the SMB market. The company opened an Austin, Texas, office location in May 2016, hoping to further fuel growth with expansion into another tech-rich area.

18. Valorem

Location: Kansas City, Mo.

Website: www.valorem.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 168.47%

Top Executive: Domnick Parretta, CEO

This year marks Valorem's fourth consecutive top 25 appearance on the CRN Fast Growth 150. The solution provider is a Microsoft Gold partner with Azure, Office 365, Dynamics CRM and custom development expertise, and works with big-name clients such as P&G, Du Pont, Nissan and Hertz. The company nearly doubled the size of its staff in a May 2016 acquisition of fellow Microsoft partner IdentityMine.

17. Concept Plus

Location: Fairfax, Va.

Website: www.conceptplusllc.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 168.76%

Top Executive: Ahmad Abuzaakouk, President & CEO

Concept Plus, a government-focused solution provider with federal agencies like the Department of Defense on its client list, holds expertise in Oracle application management, cloud services, system integration services – including ETL and SOA solutions – and multi-platform mobile development. Earlier this year, the company invested $140,000 into the creation of a shared lab for application developers that will bring 31 news jobs to the area.

16. Advanced Network Management (ANM)

Location: Albuquerque, N.M.

Website: www.anm.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 176.93%

Top Executive: Maninder Mann, President

ANM has evolved into a major Mountain West IT player thanks to strong relationships with high-powered vendors like Cisco Systems, VMware and EMC. The company in May announced year-over-year growth in revenue (50 percent) and gross profit (53 percent) along with the addition of 104 new customers over the previous year. The blossoming MSP provides IT help desk, managed security, RMM, NOC and managed storage services, among other capabilities.

15. Epic - A Bell MTS Company

Location: Winnipeg

Website: www.epic.ca

2-Year Growth Rate: 177.79%

Top Executive: Ryan Klassen, Vice President Business Solutions, Bell MTS & General Manager, Epic Information Solutions

Epic has operated as an independent subsidiary since Manitoba Telecom Services (Bell MTS) acquired the company in 2013, providing expertise in managed, cloud and professional services. Epic, one of just three Canadian solution providers to be named a CRN Triple Crown winner in 2016, rose more than 80 spots on this year's Solution Provider 500.

14. DirectDefense

Location: Camden, Del.

Website: www.directdefense.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 186.38%

Top Executive: Jim Broome, President

Riding a remarkable growth trajectory since its founding in 2012, DirectDefense offers security assessment services and penetration testing for networks, platforms and applications, as well as training and strategic services. The company works with a large number of Fortune 100 clients, including businesses in the power/utility, gaming, retail, travel and health-care spaces.

13. IT Authorities

Location: Tampa, Fla.

Website: www.itauthorities.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 189.31%

Top Executive: Phil LaForge, CEO

IT Authorities provides managed services and discovery, planning and design, and project execution services to the bottling, nonprofit, manufacturing, accounting, construction, legal, financial, publishing, and health and human services verticals. The company has, over the past six months, hired a new CEO and brought in a CFO and COO to ensure that IT Authorities can continue its growth.

12. ClearObject

Location: Fishers, Ind.

Website: www.clearobject.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 191.19%

Top Executive: John McDonald, CEO

Clear Object helps the world's best companies connect their ideas to the Internet of Things, providing everything from ideation and development to cloud hosting and sensor and software design. The company, No. 498 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, changed its name from CloudOne in February, hired an HR director in May, and got a multimillion-dollar credit line from Silicon Valley Bank in June.

11. 10th Magnitude

Location: Chicago

Website: www.10thmagnitude.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 233.31%

Top Executive: Alex Brown, CEO

10th Magnitude provides Microsoft Azure migration, DevOps, automation, Internet of Things, analytics, application modernization and cloud development to companies in verticals such as legal, financial services and technology. The company received a significant investment in October from private equity powerhouse Pamlico Capital to capitalize on the soaring Azure cloud services opportunity.

10. Critical Start

Location: Plano, Texas

Website: www.criticalstart.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 234.13%

Top Executive: Rob Davis, CEO

The 100 percent employee-owned Critical Start bills itself as the largest cybersecurity firm in the Lone Star State. The company offers services that include security strategy and assessment, tech implementation and MSSP capabilities, the last of which feature SOC reporting and automated security controls. Managing director Tera Davis told CRN in April that she has seen an "uptick" in its security automation business.

9. IP Consulting Inc

Location: Kentwood, Mich.

Website: www.ipconsultinginc.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 248.27%

Top Executive: Milton Moore, CEO

IP Consulting provides collaboration, infrastructure, security and professional services to the federal, state and local government, commercial, and education verticals. The company said in October that it would invest $700,000 into its Kentwood, Mich., headquarters to purchase new computers, IT equipment and furniture, which will in turn enable the company to create 25 new jobs.

8. Relus Technologies

Location: Peachtree Corners, Ga.

Website: www.relus.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 254.92%

Top Executive: Mark Metz, CEO

Relus, a new addition to the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500 this year, maintains a broad offerings scope with particular focus on data center transformation, cloud enablement and IT staffing and recruiting. The rising channel star is an AWS consulting partner that also works with cloud and big data vendors such as Ansible, CloudCheckr, Datadog, ExtraHop, Looker and Puppet Labs.

7. Fivesky

Location: New York

Website: www.fivesky.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 261.2%

Top Executive: Reza Pourkhomami, Managing Member

Featuring a comprehensive set of next-generation solutions, including virtualization, cloud integration, security and automation, Fivesky has found itself on the fast track since its 2012 inception. The company made a big-time addition to its team last August, tabbing former Proofpoint executive Luanne Tierney as managing partner/co-owner, and has since focused on expanding its presence in the San Francisco Bay area.

6. Unitas Global

Location: Los Angeles

Website: www.unitasglobal.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 329.69%

Top Executive: Patrick Shutt, CEO

Unitas Global provides private cloud, cloud monitoring and management, hybrid cloud, open stack, IT outsourcing, cloud security, big data and disaster recovery services, and works closely with Microsoft, Dell, Intelisys, VMware, Huawei and Google. The company, No. 455 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, bought the cloud services arm of Alexander Open Systems to and boost its engineering capabilities.

5. Stratalux

Location: Inglewood, Calif.

Website: www.Stratalux.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 360.09%

Top Executive: Jeremy Przygode, CEO

Stratalux provides AWS managed services, AWS migration services, AWS software development, Chef DevOps development and open-source centralized logging to companies like Carl's Jr., DreamWorks and LifeLock. Stratalux achieved its AWS managed service partner designation in November, and also works closely with Chef, New Relic and Zadara Storage.

4. Universal Data (UDI)

Location: New Orleans

Website: www.udi.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 386.58%

Top Executive: Jim Perrier, President

Universal Data has come a long way since Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the Big Easy in 2005. Once just a $1.5 million company that was losing money, the solution provider has established thriving disaster-recovery and virtualization practices over the past decade. UDI was another newcomer on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, landing at No. 427 on the list.

3. Tekpr os

Location: Plano, Texas

Website: www.tekpros.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 416.48%

Top Executive: Kumar Nandigam, CEO

Tekpros offers cloud, security, mobile, migration, offshore, data management, virtualization, hosting, infrastructure, managed, project management, and workforce solutions, servicing customers in the energy, health-care, government, healthcare and retail verticals. The company works closely with IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, VMware, EMC, Red Hat, Cisco Systems, Novell, SAP, Dell and HP Inc.

2. Axispoint

Location: New York

Website: www.axispoint.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 540.45%

Top Executive: Daniel DiSano, President, CEO

Axispoint provides consulting, software development, web development, mobile application development and cloud services, supporting customers in the music, entertainment, health-care, financial services and technology verticals. Axispoint, No. 301 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, bought T2 Computing's business solutions practice to boost its hardware and engineering expertise.

1. EVOTEK

Location: San Diego

Website: www.evotek.com

2-Year Growth Rate: 739.36%

Top Executive: Didi Gur, CEO

EVOTEK is enjoying explosive growth thanks to fast-rising demand for its impressive array of digital business services. Founded in 2014, the solution provider has built specialized offerings around data center tech, enterprise storage, virtualization, networking, security and data protection. The AWS partner hired 20-year industry veteran Jeff Klenner, former vice president and general manager at BMC Software, as its new president in July 2016.