The Deloitte Canadian Technology Fast 50 is a prestigious annual award that honours Canadian technology companies. The program provides its winners with an unparallel regional, national and sector profile that is recognized among industry peers, potential customers and investors.

As the tech sector evolved in the past eight years, so has the program. In addition to recognizing revenue growth through our overall Fast 50 award, the program also celebrates sustainable growth through the Sustained Excellence award. In 2004, we introduced the Growthworks Leadership award to recognize best-in-class performance.

In 2005 we recognized up-and-coming companies with our Companies-to-Watch award. "What we're working on now is identifying 'best of breed,'" says Garry Foster, national TMT director, Deloitte Canada. "And recognizing high-achiever enterprises this way gives other companies the opportunity to appreciate the elements of their success, and to try emulate what these winners have been doing."

The 2005 Fast 50 program — including the winners of all award categories, from the traditional revenue performance stars, to the subsector leaders, to the new kids on the block - showcased a diverse community of successful technology organizations.

Why Rutter and Cognos lead the pack for 2005
This year Rutter Inc., of St. John's, Newfoundland, became the first company in the history of Deloitte's Canadian Technology Fast 50 program to achieve the top rankings for two consecutive years. The company's revenues soared from $2.9 million in 2002 to $66.6 million and Rutter continues to project strong growth — its 2005 goal is $500 million in sales in the next five years.

Rutter has successfully developed through its core expertise and making synergistic acquisitions in marine technology. Until 2004, Rutter was known as a leading producer of video-data recorders for commercial shipping. Since then, Rutter has expanded into other areas of marine technology — in particular to the offshore oil and gas industry. Through a combination of internal growth and acquisitions, Rutter is a great example of a company who broadened its technology portfolio and offerings to become an industry leader.

The Sustained Excellence award for 2005 was awarded to Cognos Inc., of Ottawa. Founded in 1969 as Quasar — a company that provided information-system consulting to the federal government — Cognos is today the world leader in business intelligence and corporate performance management software. While the last few years have been especially strong ones for Cognos, it has been able to bring a remarkable depth of expertise both in management and its products and services.

Cognos has advanced well beyond the start-up years of heady revenue growth. Its last fiscal year saw the company achieve increased revenues of 21 percent (to US$825.5 million), with a net income of 35 percent (to US$136.6 million). Cognos' recent fourth quarter was marked by major customer successes in several categories. Its products are used by organizations ranging from Amazon.com and Marriott International to the Canada Revenue Agency and the U.S. Marine Corps. Cognos is an excellent example of how the tech sector continues to show great strengths, despite a slowing in growth rates among other companies.

Deloitte's Fast 50 awards look at the 'big picture' of a company's growth
The GrowthWorks Leadership award makes the point of not exclusively focusing on financial performance. CSI Wireless, one of this year's winners in that category, grasps the real significance of the award for them. "Deloitte and its panel of experts recognize the underlying value of our products, our technology, our strategies, our people and our markets," says Stephen Verhoeff, CSI's president and CEO. "We applaud Deloitte for taking the time to examine the 'big picture' by recognizing CSI as a truly exceptional company — one of Canada's global telecom/wireless leaders."