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Dublin-based Data Electronics has become this year’s winner of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award. Founded in 1975, Data Electronics is Ireland’s oldest data centre operator and has seen aggregate growth in revenue of 4,376 per cent over the past five years. Last year, the company was ranked number 40 in the list.  The final ranking was announced last night during an awards ceremony in the BBC Studio, Belfast. (See here for full ranking list)

In second place was one of eight new entries to the Fast 50 listing, Alltracel Pharmaceuticals, which specialises in developing consumer wound care, oral care and coronary health products. It achieved a growth rate of 2,771 per cent over six years.

Third place was also taken by a Fast 50 debutant and previous Rising Star winner, Digiweb. The company is rapidly becoming one of Ireland’s leading broadband providers to the business and consumer sectors using wireless, satellite and DSL technology. It had a growth rate of 2,384 per per cent. Fourth and fifth place went to Meridio and Bard na nGleann respectively. This was Bard na nGleann’s first appearance in the Fast 50 listing.

This year, there were six winners in the Rising Stars category which recognises younger companies with the fastest growth in turnover over the past three years. There were three Rising Stars from Northern Ireland – Fusion Antibodies (1,074 per cent), ASIUDA (386 per cent), and Propertynews.com (53 per cent), and three from the Republic of Ireland – Smarthomes (1,578 per cent), Zamano (781 per cent) and expd8 (155 per cent).

The Fast 50 programme, now in its sixth year ranks the fastest-growing technology companies in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The 2005 awards ceremony was held in Belfast for the first time and saw 35 companies from the Republic of Ireland and 15 companies from Northern Ireland being recognised for achieving an average annual growth of 522 per cent over the period 2000 to 2004.

Announcing the winners of the Technology Fast 50 programme, David O’Flanagan, Partner with Deloitte, Dublin said: “We are delighted to see the Technology Fast 50 go from strength to strength and tonight’s finalists provide us with a great barometer to assess the state of the emerging technology sector in Ireland.  Performance indicators from this year’s list are very positive, representing an impressive average increase in revenue of almost 190 per cent on last year.”  

Liam Nellis, Chief Executive of InterTradeIreland, sponsors of the award, said,
“It is especially gratifying to see companies in the Rising Stars category operating on an all-Ireland basis.  For example, Smarthomes and Fusion Antibodies have come through the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn and Innova programme respectively.  This demonstrates the winning importance of the all-Ireland market to companies pursuing real growth and success”.

ENDS

Editor’s Notes:

Deloitte Technology Fast 50

To qualify for the Deloitte Fast 50 Programme a company must have been:

• In business for a minimum of 5 years
  Entries must be considered a technology company, defined as:
  • producing technology
  • manufacturing technology-related products
  • technologically intensive or uses unique technology in problem-solving 
  • devoting a high percentage of effort to research and development of technology
  • Have its parent company located in Ireland

Eligibility criteria for the Rising Starts competition:

• In business for a minimum of three years but no more than five
• Entrants must be a technology company, defined as: 
  • producing technology
  • manufacturing technology- related products 
  • technologically intensive or using unique technology in problem-solving
  • devoting a high percentage of effort to research and development of technology 
  • Have its parent company located in Ireland

The Technology Fast 50 programme was originally started in San Jose, the centre of Silicon Valley, California in 1995 and has expanded across the globe in the last six years.  Both the regional Technology Fast 50 and the national Technology Fast 500 were created to recognise the outstanding contribution of fast growing technology companies to the US economy.

For further information and details on the award, visit http://www.deloitte.com/ie

Deloitte, Ireland’s fastest-growing professional services firm, provides a full range of services:

• Assurance and Advisory Services
• Company Secretarial and Legal Services
• EBusiness Consulting
• Financial Advisory Services
• Management Consulting
• Pensions Services
• Taxation Services

Deloitte provides these services through 950 people located in four Irish cities – Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Limerick.  Known as an employer of choice for innovative human resources programmes, Deloitte has been recognised as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune magazine for four consecutive years.  We are dedicated to helping our clients and our people excel.

Deloitte is part of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, one of the world’s leading professional services firms, with more than 120,000 people in nearly 150 countries.

InterTradeIreland

InterTradeIreland, the Trade and Business Development Body, was established as one of the North/South implementation bodies under the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999.  Uniquely, InterTradeIreland has a joint mandate from both jurisdictions to bring North/South trade and business development into the mainstreams of government policies north and south of the border.