Harbor IT, a national provider of cybersecurity and IT services, has acquired New England Network Solutions (NENS), a managed service provider based in Greater Boston, recognized for its operational excellence and deep expertise in healthcare and life sciences.
This marks Harbor IT’s eighth and most significant acquisition to date, as well as its third in the New England region, which strengthens the company’s healthcare specialization and expands its regional footprint. The transaction also adds NENS executives Michael Kourkoulakos and Josh Oakes to Harbor IT’s leadership team. The Boston-based team will continue to serve clients locally while gaining access to Harbor IT’s national-scale infrastructure, compliance, and security resources.
Founded in 1993 in Lowell, Massachusetts, NENS has established a 30-year track record of serving regulated sectors, including healthcare and life sciences. The company is known for advanced cybersecurity and compliance capabilities, including HIPAA and CMMC. Under Kourkoulakos and Oakes’ leadership, NENS achieved more than fifteenfold growth over the past fourteen years, earning widespread recognition for reliability, proactive security, and disciplined operations.
Harbor IT, initially founded to bridge the gap between cybersecurity and IT operations, has evolved into a leading provider of security-led managed services for regulated and complex industries. The company’s integrated offerings span SOC/MXDR, compliance and vCISO advisory, cloud and infrastructure management, network engineering, and unified communications. Harbor IT’s approach enables faster execution and measurable outcomes across its 1,500 clients nationwide, which now include over 300 employees in 29 states and nine offices.
The addition of NENS strengthens Harbor IT’s position as an operator-led, cyber-first platform purpose-built to serve organizations in sectors where uptime, compliance, and audit-readiness are mission-critical. The company is backed by a permanent holding structure funded by entrepreneurs and family business owners, allowing Harbor IT to grow with patient capital and long-term strategic focus.
KEY QUOTES:
“Josh and Mike are the best operators we’ve seen in the MSP space—they’re a step above. When I asked ten industry leaders who they considered the strongest operators, four named Josh and Mike. No other person or pair came up more than once. Bringing them into Harbor raises the bar for execution and accountability across our platform and for the industry.”
Johnny Lieberman, CEO of Harbor IT
“What drew us to Harbor was how closely their culture aligns with ours: a genuine commitment to people, AI, cybersecurity, and operational excellence. For more than 30 years, we have built NENS around accountability, trust, and doing right by our clients. Harbor IT shares those same values and brings the scale and resources to help us do it even better. Together, we can deliver what we call intimacy at scale: maintaining the close relationships and responsiveness our clients expect while expanding the depth, speed, and capability of everything we do.”
Michael Kourkoulakos, CEO of NENS
“We chose Harbor IT because it represents a true merger of experienced, owner-operated service providers, not a typical private equity rollup. Our combined teams understand the unique needs of small and mid-sized organizations across diverse industries. By leveraging broad technology expertise and proven practices, we’re committed to delivering measurable results for our clients. NENS is excited to contribute to this shared vision and drive meaningful outcomes together.”
Josh Oakes, President of NENS
