NFR Security Inc. plans to announce today a new round of venture capital funding and a new chief executive to lead a sales and marketing expansion effort at the Rockville software firm.

Neil Selvin, a former Silicon Valley technology executive and Apple Computer Inc. marketing director, is being named chief executive concurrent with a $7.5 million round of funding led by Washington venture capital firm Lazard Technology Partners.

A Lazard managing principal, Kevin J. Burns, has been at the helm of NFR since the previous CEO left last year.

“They had started a formal search,” Selvin said, “and they stumbled across me.” Burns remains chairman of the board of directors.

Selvin is charged with increasing sales of NFR’s network intrusion technology. The company, according to Burns, needs to move beyond just describing its technology to telling potential customers why they need it.

“I was not happy with the marketing capabilities of the company,” he said. “They stayed in missionary mode, where you’re explaining, past the point where everybody knew what [the technology] was.”

NFR has about 500 customers, most of them utilities and communications companies, but also some large government agencies. Revenue is about $8 million a year, according to Burns.

This is NFR’s third round of funding since being founded in 1997, and it will bring its venture backing total to $37.5 million. It should also, according to executives and investors, be the company’s last outside investment.

The company is expected to break even by the end of next year.

Reported By TechNews.com, http://www.TechNews.com

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