The Top 20 Movers and Shakers list represents the companies that, through remarkable performance, showed the most significant increases in their rankings compared to last year’s list. Overall, this year’s Movers and Shakers produced cumulative revenues of $791.3 million, a 104 per cent increase over this group’s 2005 total revenues of $388.1 million. The average growth rate for a single company on this year’s Top 20 Movers and Shakers list was 101.2 per cent. It is interesting to note many of these companies are involved in fields identified as key trends in 2006, further demonstrating how firms involved in these important initiatives are gaining success.

Verb Exchange is this year’s number one Mover and Shaker with year-end revenues estimated to be more than $15 million, a 202 per cent increase over 2005 revenues of $5.1 million, and a move up the list by 100 spaces to 135th overall. Verb Exchange is a clear example of the success of VoIP. The company provides various solutions and services over “packetized networks” using advanced VoIP platforms. Products include a “virtual universal remote control” for voice and data tasks, as well as Tagline, a personal gateway for Unified Communications, allowing users to manage multiple communications from a single device. Verb Exchange leads the way this year for British Columbian Movers and Shakers, which comprise eight of the 20 companies on the list.

PlateSpin makes a return to the number two ranking on the Movers and Shakers list. The company moved 51 spots to number 130 on the Top 250 with year-over-year revenue growth of 173 per cent. PlateSpin provides advanced data centre automation software used to optimize server resource usage, employing solutions such as server consolidation, virtualization and disaster recovery.

New to the Movers and Shakers list this year is Whitehill Technologies from Moncton, N.B. The software company specializes in business process integration, document composition and data transformation, serving customers predominantly in the legal services and insurance markets. Whitehill served its 1,000th customer in 2006. The company moved up 48 spaces to number 95, with yearover- year revenue growth of 142 per cent. Other Movers and Shakers that saw significant revenue growth include Camilion Solutions (130 per cent), Wellpoint Systems (113 per cent), Versatile Systems (167 per cent), Eloqua (105 per cent), Sierra Wireless (104 per cent) and Brainhunter (119 per cent). The appearance of these companies on the list shows the diverse breadth of IT segments that have experienced significant growth and ranking changes on the Branham300. From wireless solutions to IT staffing, and from specialized process software to Voice over Internet Protocol, Canadian companies are excelling in multiple fields of information technology.

This year’s Movers and Shakers characterize the trends that were gaining ground in 2006 and continue to show prominence and importance in 2007. From health care IT companies like Navantis to IT security specialists like Absolute Software, the Movers and Shakers work to create innovative and crucial solutions in today’s most important information technology fields.

The Top 10 Growth Companies list ranks the Top 250 companies that have had the highest year-over-year revenue growth and includes new companies that were not part of the Branham300 last year. The Top 10 Growth list includes four such companies: Peer 1, RAD International, BSM Technologies and Nightingale Informatix.

Peer 1 Network Enterprises of Vancouver provides Internet infrastructure solutions such as co-location, self-managed servers and dedicated hosting to more than 15,000 customers. The company produced more than $70 million in revenues in 2006, with a 212 per cent year-over-year growth rate. Peer 1 offers a variety of interesting products and services, such as content delivery solutions that utilize the company’s international network, which spans 16 major cities in North America, as well as London and Amsterdam.

RAD International of Mississauga, Ont., specializes in mission-critical applications in fields such as Web services, DBMS, EAI and ERP. The company’s revenues grew by 156 per cent in 2006, earning it a number 211 ranking on the Top 250. RAD also specializes in product development, software porting and performance analysis.

BSM Technologies, which recently closed a private placement offering, provides vehicle tracking and surveillance solutions. The company’s solutions are used by law-enforcement organizations in the fight against vehicular theft. Overall, BSM experienced 154 per cent revenue growth in 2006. BSM’s preliminary revenues for its 2006 fourth quarter were $1.3 million, a 395 per cent increase over the fourth quarter results of 2005 from sales in areas such as oil and gas, armored vehicles, commercial fleets and trailers.

Nightingale Informatix, an Application Service Provider of management services and solutions for the health care industry, grew by 124 per cent in 2006. The company provides a variety of solutions including Electronic Medical Records (EMR), claims processing, work flow tools, laboratory interfaces and realtime patient services. Recently the Ottawa Hospital Academic Family Health Team selected Nightingale as its EMR provider. The company’s electronic interfaces can link patient data, laboratory systems and the EMR systems, allowing a comprehensive medical management environment. Nightingale’s acquisition of a medical transcription company also assisted in revenue growth.

To view last year's Movers & Shakers list, please click here

To return to the table of contents, please click here