Deloitte & Touche Wednesday unveiled its list of the fastest growing technology companies in North America.
Medical equipment company NuVasive topped the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 by growing revenue from US$52,000 in 2000 to $38.4 million last year. Rounding out the Top 5 spots on the list are CRM software vendor NetSuite; semiconductor maker Acadia Research; logistics services provider CaseStack; and software maker Rutter, which develops voyage data recorders.
Software companies account for the largest group of the Fast 500, with 186 companies (37 percent). About 14 percent of the ranked companies are in the communications and networking market; the average growth for those 70 companies between 2000 and 2004 is 2,242 percent.
The highest-ranked company in the communications and networking category is NewMarket Technology, at No. 13. NewMarket has fueled its growth largely through acquisitions; the Dallas-based company says it’s focusing on areas including VOIP, Wi-Fi, healthcare technologies and military applications.
Eleven companies on the Fast 500 list topped $1 billion in their 2004 revenue, including Cingular Wireless ($19.4 billion revenue last year), L-3 Communications ($6.9 billion revenue last year) and Google ($3.2 billion revenue last year).
California is the state with the most resident Fast 500 companies, with 105 based there. Massachusetts and Texas each have 41 companies on the list, and 53 Canadian companies made the list.
The Fast 500 ranks companies based on percentage of fiscal year revenue growth over five years. To be considered, companies must have 2000 operating revenues of at least $50,000 and 2004 operating revenues of at least $1 million; be headquartered in North America and in business a minimum of five years; and be a technology company.
Deloitte has been publishing its Fast 500 list for 11 years. If it were to rank companies based on the greatest five-year revenue growth spurt since the program’s inception, Siebel Systems would take top honors. Siebel grew revenue from $50,000 in 1994 to $392 million in 1998 — a 782,978 percent leap.
No company has appeared on Deloitte’s Fast 500 list all 11 years, but RS Information Systems (RSIS) has the distinction of being the only company to appear on the list nine consecutive times. This year RSIS — which provides IT services to federal government agencies — is ranked No. 420. Software maker Cherokee Information Services, ranked No. 256 this year, has made the list eight times.
Rounding out the Top 10 communications and networking companies on Deloitte’s 2005 list are:
— Cable TV and Internet services provider Multiband Corp. (No. 17)
— Payment transaction provider PreCash (No. 18)
— Hosted VoIP provider Go2Call.com (No. 22)
— IT training, management and development provider Allen Corp. of America (No. 23)
— Network performance management vendor NetQoS (No. 31)
— Network security vendor SecureWorks (No. 39)
— IT services firm IntelliDyne (No. 47)
— Broadband service platform maker 2Wire (No. 51)
— In-building communications services provider Cypress Communications Holding (No. 57)