Managed Network Services Power SageNet Dives Into Security With Turnberry Buy

Network solutions provider SageNet has bought the fast-growing cybersecurity practice of Turnberry Solutions to better protect its retail and energy-sector clients, the company said.

Blue Bell, Pa.-based Turnberry Solutions, No. 464 on the 2015 CRN Solution Provider 500, shed its five-person cybersecurity unit just two years after it formed as it increasingly veered away from the company's core outsourcing practice toward managed services.

"The cybersecurity practice grew a little bit larger than Turnberry intended it to be," Paul Truitt, Turnberry's practice director for cybersecurity and cloud security services, told CRN. "Turnberry was looking to be more on the transactional side of the business."

[Related: 2013 Solution Provider 500: 45 Newcomers]

Terms of the deal, which closed in late August, were not disclosed. Before the Turnberry acquisition, SageNet employed 300 people and did roughly $115 million in annual sales.

From restaurants and apparel shops to oil and gas drillers and government agencies, SageNet's 250 customers had been clamoring for security offerings beyond the firewalls, VPN and intrusion detection services currently offered by the Tulsa, Okla.-based solution provider, SageNet President Brad Wise told CRN.

Specifically, SageNet clients are expected to be interested in Turnberry's security strategy, risk management and chief information security officer (CISO) services.

"Turnberry's cybersecurity complemented our business more, and it complemented their business less," Wise said.

Truitt said he anticipates SageNet will grow head count and invest heavily in the security practice to capture more opportunities going forward.

Three engineers and a salesperson from Turnberry will be joining SageNet in addition to Truitt. The entire crew is well-versed in vulnerability management and security assessment services, holding certifications in both AWS and Splunk, Truitt said.

The combined company will initially focus on extending more security services to existing SageNet customers, as well as drumming up demand for SageNet networking infrastructure among Turnberry's couple of dozen existing customers in baking, pharmaceuticals and retail. In the past, Truitt said, he had to push cybersecurity customers looking for networking or managed services off onto another solution provider.

Six of SageNet's customers have already expressed some interest in adding Turnberry's cybersecurity offerings to their bundle, Wise said.

SageNet also plans to bring some previously outsourced services in-house to take advantage of what Turnberry has to offer, Wise said. Specifically, the company wants to leverage its network operations centers in Tulsa and Marietta, Ga., to provide its own security support around the clock.

The two solution providers will work closely together in the months ahead, with Turnberry providing IT staffing solutions to SageNet clients and SageNet offering cybersecurity solutions to Turnberry customers.

SageNet will also be looking to add new customers interested solely in the cybersecurity offering, with the hope of bundling in a networking offering down the road, Wise said.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 2, 2015