ReliaQuest adds 150 new jobs, expands services and opens new state-of-the-art headquarters to accommodate rapid growth

TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In its fourth major expansion since its inception, ReliaQuest on Feb. 7 announced plans for significant growth to meet the needs of a growing customer base with increasingly complex cybersecurity challenges. This is the second time in less than a year that ReliaQuest has been publicly recognized for its growth, a sign of its commitment to solving the IT security workforce challenge facing enterprise companies worldwide.

ReliaQuest will add at least 150 new jobs this year, allowing the company to introduce new advanced monitoring solutions and build out a new Research and Development arm of the company, the RQ Innovation Team. 

"ReliaQuest has been able to remain on the cutting edge of the rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape because of the attitude, energy and effort of the talented individuals we are fortunate to work with every day," said ReliaQuest CEO Brian Murphy. "It's exciting to reflect on how far we've come, but today is about setting a faster pace of growth ahead. We're just getting warmed up."

This growth is happening inside ReliaQuest's new state-of-the-art headquarters and 24/7/365 Security Operations Center. In keeping with the dynamic company culture that has become a point of distinction for ReliaQuest across the industry, the space was designed to encourage employees to develop new ideas together. The company's focus on training can be clearly seen in its largest RQ University room, which can accommodate up to 80 participants. Recruitment and retention of highly qualified IT professionals is ReliaQuest's modus operandi, allowing the company to serve as a force multiplier for its customers. The new facility also includes two Innovation Centers, which can simulate any security environment or scenario to enable collaboration between ReliaQuest and its customers as the industry changes.

ReliaQuest took an inflexible and unreliable outsourced security model and created a fully customized cybersecurity solution for its customers through co-management. Cybersecurity industry experts recognize co-management as the emerging industry standard for Fortune 2000 organizations across healthcare, financial services, retail and other regional enterprise organizations. ReliaQuest allows its customers to utilize tools and technologies they already own and maintain full control of and access to their data. Solutions are tailored to each customer's environment, tools, risk profile and business goals. ReliaQuest provides 24/7/365 incident response, engineering and threat management from multiple U.S.-based Security Operations Centers. As a result, ReliaQuest's customer renewal rate is nearly 100 percent.

This performance has earned ReliaQuest myriad awards and accolades from industry partners, government and civic leaders. ReliaQuest was recognized in 2016 by Florida Gov. Rick Scott for its last expansion announcement of 55 jobs – a projection RQ exceeded by almost double. These new jobs are in addition to that prior expansion.

"I am proud that ReliaQuest will be expanding and creating 150 new jobs for families in the Tampa Bay area," said Gov. Rick Scott. "Our continued focus on making Florida the most business-friendly state in the nation is helping more and more Florida companies like ReliaQuest invest and create new opportunities in our state. I look forward to seeing ReliaQuest's ongoing success in Florida, and I congratulate them on this exciting news."

Tuesday's expansion announcement was hailed as transformational by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Jeff Vinik, owner of the Tampa Bay Lighting and partner with Strategic Property Partners, which is leading the revitalization of downtown Tampa.

"We are fortunate to have one of the nation's leading cybersecurity companies right in our backyard," said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. "By bringing high-tech, high-wage jobs to Tampa's urban core, ReliaQuest supports the prosperity of our region for generations to come."

"Tampa has become a destination for and generator of high-tech jobs, and ReliaQuest is a symbol of the kind of energy that Tampa has today as it continues attracting new employers and stimulating growth," said Jeff Vinik, owner of the Tampa Bay Lighting and partner in Strategic Property Partners. "Companies like ReliaQuest are a testament to the strength of this market and a sign of good things to come." 

Service enhancements for 2017:

• Advanced monitoring: Through automation, training and development, ReliaQuest analysts leverage intelligence feeds from multiple security sources to provide higher fidelity alerting for ReliaQuest and its customers.
• R&D: Every employee at ReliaQuest will have the opportunity to participate in a new R&D team focused solely on discovering and developing new service innovations.
• Cyber Range: In order to provide the most up-to-date, hands-on technical training to its growing ranks of cybersecurity professionals, ReliaQuest developed its own virtual training arena, called the ReliaQuest Cyber Range. The range aggregates scenarios that ReliaQuest sees across each of its Security Operations Centers and uses those scenarios to train and develop future cyber professionals. Few, if any, other cybersecurity companies have invested in this level of sophistication for realistic hands-on cyber training. This capability, combined with RQ University, enables ReliaQuest to scale ahead of market demand.
• Automation tools: ReliaQuest has integrated new automation tools and is working to develop additional automation capabilities that will change the shape of how security operations are conducted in the future.

ReliaQuest, a pioneer in IT security solutions, ensures organizations remain secure and compliant as the IT security world rapidly changes. ReliaQuest's focus on training, development and innovation enables the company and its customers to scale and mature as quickly as possible without resource constraints. By empowering IT security professionals with the latest technology innovations through 24/7/365 incident response, engineering and threat management services, ReliaQuest simplifies the complex and serves as a force multiplier for its customers.

Media contact: 
Kim Wilmath 
Director of Communications  
813-857-5397 
[email protected]

SOURCE ReliaQuest