Software Asset Management Ireland (SAMI), a leading supplier of software and information technology solutions to the education and voluntary sector, has taken the top spot in this year’s Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards. This is the first year the company has entered the awards.
The company, which was established in 2003, achieved an aggregate growth rate of 5505% over the last five years. The average growth rate of the Fast 50 companies named in this year’s ranking is 623%.
iSite, the specialist IT services company based in Dublin, achieved second place with a growth rate of 3461%. Third place went to Roomex Limited, the company which runs the websites www.RoomexDirect.com and www.Roomex.com. They achieved an aggregate growth rate of 2847%. Daft Media Limited, who achieved top spot last year, achieved fourth position with an aggregate growth rate of 2291%. Latens Systems Limited, the highest ranked company from Northern Ireland, completed the Top 5 with a growth rate of 1722%.
The Fast 50 programme, now in its eleventh year in Ireland, ranks the fastest-growing technology companies in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Technology Fast 50 awards are an opportunity for businesses to gain recognition for their successes and achievements. Novosco, Andor Technology plc and Texthelp Systems Ltd once again achieved a ranking this year and are the only three companies to have featured in the ranking since the beginning of the programme.
Two companies have also been awarded Rising Star awards. This category recognises younger companies with the fastest growth in turnover over the past three years. Learning Pool Ltd, an e-learning provider for the public sector are Northern Ireland’s Rising Star winner with Ezetop, the group focused on international and online mobile phone top-up representing the Republic of Ireland.
This year, there are 15 companies from Northern Ireland in the ranking. There are also 15 new entrants to the ranking – five from Northern Ireland and 10 from the Republic of Ireland.
Announcing the winners of the Technology Fast 50 programme, David O’Flanagan, Partner with Deloitte, Dublin said: “In spite of the challenging financial market conditions, the 2010 Deloitte Fast 50 shows that Irish technology companies are continuing to show impressive growth. We are particularly impressed to see the increase in winners who are competing on the world stage, especially in the areas of software development and in the B2C sector (business to consumer). Ireland’s high mobile phone penetration has led to a number of companies being successful in the development of software to support the global telecommunications industry. Irish companies have also excelled at utilising the web to sell consumer services globally. These are industries we have seen develop and mature over the past decade.”
Eight counties across the island of Ireland are represented on this year’s listing. Dublin leads the pack with 23 companies, followed by Antrim with 11 companies. There are five companies from Limerick on the ranking, four from Cork, three from Down and two from Kerry. Clare and Derry each have one company on this year’s ranking.
The awards took place in the Europa Hotel in Belfast on November 12th. Industry figures speaking at the event included Niall Olden, Managing Partner, Kernel Capital, John Hartnett, President and Founder, Irish Technology Leadership Group and David Halstead, Partner, Deloitte.
Details of the final Technology Fast 50 ranking list are available to download at www.fast50.ie.