KEYW growing in center of cyber work

While many businesses are cutting back or just holding on as the effects of the recession linger, the Hanover-based defense and intelligence firm is quickly growing.

KEYW, which went public in October, finished a deal Monday to acquire Everest Innovation Solutions Inc., an intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing company from Fairfax, Va. According to KEYW, the deal is the company's ninth acquisition since beginning operations in August 2008 - the fourth this year - and it will bring to the company more than 700 employees with the vast majority having high-level security clearances.

For years, government and business representatives have said the innovation corridor surrounding Fort George G. Meade will play a major role in transforming Maryland's economy, and KEYW is aggressively looking to become part of that future. Its customers include the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense.

One of KEYW's major investors - Corporate Office Properties Trust - is as well the company's landlord. COPT has built its name through owning business properties just as the National Business Park in Annapolis Junction, a 400-acre site across from Fort Meade.

The moves of KEYW

The moves of KEYW and COPT are not surprising to Jacques Gansler, a former undersecretary of defense for acquisition, research and logistics and nevertheless a chair in public policy and private enterprise at the University of Maryland.

At least in terms of dollars and growth, it appears KEYW is part of the cyber epicenter's center. The company reported $78.7 million of revenue through the first nine months of this year, up from $26.9 million in the same time frame in 2009, and KEYW is projecting another $31 million in the fourth quarter.

The straightway few years

Although overall defense spending may decline in the straightway few years, dollars for defense innovation likely nevertheless will be robust, Gansler said. The question for companies like KEYW is whether they continue to grow by buying other businesses or get swallowed up.