The company provides business "enablement" systems, including unified communications, wireless, security, "telepresence" and host services, plus supporting network, systems and Microsoft infrastructure systems. Telepresence combines audio, video and other interactive technologies for distance meetings. Presidio's major focus now is voice over Internet protocol, running all communications through the Internet rather than a phone network.
"We're an enablement business. We take others' technology and implement advanced technology solutions to enable businesses to achieve their true gains," said Todd W. Brinegar, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Presidio Networked Solutions.
With annual revenue growth of 18 percent over the past five years, the 950-employee company hopes to break the $1 billion mark by fiscal 2009. Officials declined to disclose profits.
Presidio recently acquired Ficomp of Pennsylvania, said president Rudy Casasola.
"A lot of companies don't grow amid acquisitions, but Presidio has seen unmatched continuous growth," he said.
Most recently, Presidio has received awards through Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Annual Middle Market Financing, VARBusiness and the Everything Channel.
"They've made a commitment in training and specializing their staff to support the needs of the client," said Denny Trevett, director of advanced and emerging technology at Cisco in San Jose, Calif., referring to Presidio's studies of unified communications and security issues.
Presidio was named Cisco's Technology Excellence Partner of the Year for its U.S. division and Unified Communications Partner of the Year for its global division. The company is also one of Cisco's gold-certified partners, which handle advanced government technologies.
Trevett said Presidio is one of Cisco's fastest-growing companies among its larger partners.
Under the leadership of chairman and CEO Joel Schleicher, who wanted to create a locally based systems provider on the East Coast, the company grew after he worked to acquire Presidio's subsidiaries and emphasized the importance of having twice as many engineers as salespeople to allow a consultative approach, along with certification and skills. Presidio staff are also kept local, rather than flying them in from other divisions, as other companies do, Casasola said.
"We want our staff to understand client challenges and what they want to do to manage costs and growth," Casasola said, adding that Presidio focuses on helping clients prepare for the future of technology.
While 15 percent of Presidio's services go to federal agencies including a portion of a $5.7 billion contract with NASA – its major clients are state and local governments, the media and other commercial sectors.
"There's definitely a momentum here in the market," Casasola said. "Projects may have been put on hold for our clients, but they are still moving forward. They can't operate without technology."
Presidio also was honored, with PNC Bank, through The M&A Advisor, a finance industry newsletter. The company won the Debt Financing Deal of the Year Award for a $240 million deal backed by receivables.
Fred Solomon, spokesman for PNC in Pittsburgh, said it's unusual for a company to use receivables rather than more tangible collateral to back its transactions.
Casasola said Presidio hopes to reach $2 billion in revenues rapidly once it passes the $1 billion mark, grow its remote management monitoring and concentrate on server virtualization, which uses less space to store more memory.
"The culture of our organization is unique. We're still very entrepreneur in spirit. There's not a lot of management layers," he said.
M&A Advisor Debt Financing Deal of the Year Award.
Company of the Year by Everything Channel's VARBusiness Magazine.
No. 12 on Everything Channel's 2008 CRN Fast Growth 100 List.
No. 69 on the VARBusiness 500.
Microsoft Northeast Partner of the Year.
Technology Excellence Partner of the Year: Unified Communications and Security for Cisco Systems (U.S. and Canada).
Unified Communications Partner of the Year for Cisco Systems, U.S. Globals and Nationals.
Enterprise Partner of the Year for Cisco Systems, U.S. and Canada Regional – East.
IBM Public Sector Top Star.
