Top 20 Movers and Shakers

The Movers and Shakers list highlights the companies that increased their rank by the highest number of
spaces, in comparison to last year’sl ist. This year, we approached the discussion of the Movers and Shakers differently.
First, we looked at the traditional list, ranked by the greatest positive gain in ranking position (refer to the
Movers and Shakers Table). In addition, we looked at companies that have had the highest year-over-year revenue growth, as there are several noteworthy organizations that are new to the Branham300 and therefore did not have a previous ranking. Companies not on either list still made a notable impact in the IT marketplace this year. Companies like Macadamian Software Engineering and iVedha both had 137
per cent revenue growth rates, while Research in Motion generated 127 per cent growth that increased its 2004 revenues by $880 million.

Imaging Dynamics Company of Calgary, ranked as the top Mover and Shaker this year, climbing 71 positions to 81 on the Top 250. This was a tremendous year for the company, which saw record revenues and profitability strengthen its brand recognition as one of the leaders in digital radiography. The company provides solutions to create radiographic images in a digital format that is steadily replacing traditional film-based images. This is quite important to healthcare ICT as modern electronic medical networks utilize this digital format.
Named one of the Top 25 Up and Comersnlast year, PlateSpin of Toronto has continued to make a name for itself and has jumped 62 positions to number 181. A provider of solutions geared towards the consolidation, optimization and measurement of server resources, the company achieved milestones
during these early years such as its 500th customer and year-over-year revenue growth of approximately 350 per cent.
ISACSOFT of Montreal experienced about 92 per cent year-over-year revenue growth, according to Branham estimates, which moved it up 56 positions to number 105 on the Top 250 list. A provider of business software solutions as well as IT and systems integration consulting, ISACSOFT restructured itself with a new business planin 2004 that paid off by helping the company return to profitability through a refocused revenue model. Organizational restructuring also helped to change the operations of Toronto’s
Dexit, an innovator in the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) area. The company moved 57 positions to be ranked number 187 overall.

Dexit has achieved more than 230 per cent year-over-year revenue growth with its 50,000 customers
across 500 merchant locations by offering a unique product/service combination that allows customers to
purchase certain low-cost items with an RFID tag.
Amidst heavy competition, Toronto’s VoiceGenie saw sales increases of approximately 64 per cent in comparison to 2004. VoiceGenie’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform has been deployed in many
locations to handle approximately five million IVR calls per day for customers like AT&T Verizon and Tata Telecom. Call centre-related solutions have become a hot market in 2005 and will continue to be in demand worldwide—especially with the trend toward nearshore and offshore outsourcing.
Several additional companies merit mention because of high growth rates.
MakePlain of Markham, Ont., saw the highest revenue change of all the Branham300 companies—significant from an Up and Comer. A consultancy for business intelligence and data warehousing, the company went from revenues of $980,000 to $7,000,000 in one year by starting out
with planning projects that then turned into multi-million dollar design contracts for some of Canada’s top companies.
Recently, the company signed deals with IBM Canada to help it create a data mart solution for an elementary school board in British Columbia.
With the immense effect of wireless communication products on Canada’s economy, companies like ZIM of Ottawa are making strides in developing a series of applications and services around Short Message Service (SMS), widely used as a low-cost and fast communication medium. The company’s software solutions and Application Service Provider (ASP) capabilities enable two-way chat between mobile and computer users, the forwarding of e-mail to mobile phones, Microsoft Outlook and Excel functionality
for mobile phones, as well as offering multiplatform database languages.
Homeserve Technologies of Toronto saw large revenue gains for 2005 as well, growing from revenues of $2 million to $8.6 million—330 per cent growth. The company provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Credit Adjudication and Relocation services through software developed for the real-estate, banking and relocation industries. A significant portion of this year’s revenue was generated by the
acquisition of ICON, an employee relocation technology platform developed by Royal LePage Relocation Services. ICON manages multiple aspects of employee relocation as well as the management of client relocation policies and procedures—all with real-time capabilities.
Other notable companies that were not on the Movers and Shakers list include QuIC Financial Technologies of Vancouver and March Networks of Ottawa, which showed 300 per cent and 262 per cent year-over-year revenue growth, respectively. It is important to include these companies in the discussion of the top Movers and Shakers as they all make significant contributions to Canadian IT. The top 10 Movers and Shakers from our list had an average growth rate of 157 per cent.

Backbone's Digital Economy Acceleration Committee