VAR500 2010: Top 20 Revenue Stars

These 20 solution providers, beginning with #20, earned a total of nearly $3.2 billion, and had an average growth rate of 106 percent. Who are they and what is the business focus that propels such lofty growth?

20. Clearpath Solutions Group

President: Gary Vaughan

Data management has propelled Clearpath's revenue from $11.8 million in 2008 to $19 million in 2009 -- a 61 percent rate of growth. Coming in right at number 500 on the 2010 VAR500, the company has a diverse customer portfolio, featuring both the public and private sectors, from Montgomery County in Pennsylvania to David's Bridal retail chain.

19. Interactive Technology Solutions

CEO: Stefan Lalos

Interactive Technology Solutions (ITSolutions) saw 63 percent growth from 2008 to 2009, with sales increasing from $40 million to $65 million. Coming in at 323 on this year's VAR500 -- an impressive leap from 2009's rank of 452 -- ITSolutions makes its mark by providing services including project management, strategic planning, infrastructure operations, call center consulting, and network engineering and operations to customers in both the commercial and government sectors.

18. Medidata Solutions

CEO: Tarek Sherif

One of several solution providers on this fastest growing list that is in the healthcare field, Medidata's revenue grew from $86 million in 2008 to $140 million in 2009, placing it at #224 on the 2010 VAR500. The VAR's 63 percent growth comes from providing hosted software for administering and managing clinical trials, electronic data capture applications, study management applications, and patient diaries. Medidata also offers consulting, implementation, integration, maintenance, support, and training.

17. Sword and Shield Enterprise Security

CEO: John McNeely

Ranked at #301, Sword and Shield has leapfrogged 122 places on our 2010 list, due to its revenue growth of 66 percent. Its 2009 revenue was $74 million, which it earned by focusing on network security services. Sword and Shield has extensive experience in network security and regulatory compliance for large-scale corporate IT environments and mission-critical federal systems.

16. En Pointe Technologies

CEO: Bob Din

En Pointe Technologies is a technology solutions provider that supplies I.T. products and services to medium and large enterprises, educational institutions, government agencies and non-profits nationwide. In August, CEO Din purchased all outstanding shares and took the company private.

15. Carahsoft Technology

President: Craig Abod

Carahsoft, 2010 VAR500 rank 99, offers a wide spectrum of technology partners, which offer data storage, human resources administration, intelligence, encryption software, and open source software. In 2008, the company was ranked 152 and revenue was $348 million; in 2009, that number soared to $586 million, a 69 percent boost.

14. Jorge Scientific Corporation

CEO: Judith Jorge Hartman

With a growth rate of more than 70 percent between 2008 and 2009, this IT provider to the federal government raced more than 100 places upward from its rank last year on the VAR500 to #238 on the 2010 list. In July, the company brought on Chris Torti, formerly a senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions at Stanley and Associates, helping that IT integrator to grow to nearly $1 billion in annual revenue.

13. STG International

President and CEO: Michelle S. Lee

Number 228 on the VAR500 offers health-care and management consulting services. Its revenue grew from $77 million in 2008 to $134 million in 2009, a 74 percent increase. In May, STGi partnered with software developer MicroPact to offer government customers an HR solution to help them with enterprise-level management of human capital programs such as worker-compensation programs.

12. Bedrock Technology Partners

Managing Partner: Alison Cappellazzo

Bedrock, which designs and implements Data Center Networking solutions, increased revenue 78 percent between 2008 to 2009. Its $50 million in sales landed the solution provider at 361 on this year's listing.

10. AMICAS

CEO: Stephen Kahane

AMICAS rose substantially on the 2010 VAR500, jumping from 409 last year to 305 this year. That movement is due to its impressing revenue growth of 81 percent, resulting in 2009 sales of $72 million. The health care specialist was acquired by Merge Healthcare earlier this year.

9. GFI Solutions Group

CEO and President: Gilles Letourneau

GFI, 2010 VAR500 rank #256, is another newcomer to the list. Revenue at the company surged 89 percent in the past year, reaching $102 million. The solution provider develops applications including enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, electronic payment systems, business process optimization content management systems and custom network design, as well as outsourced managed services.

8. Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions

CEO: Glen Tullman

The solution provider, 2010 VAR500 #103, which does business as simply "Allscripts," offers prescription management software and services. Its revenue grew 95 percent, to $548 million, and it moved up 66 ranks on this year's list. Allscript's solution lets doctors enter prescription information over computer networks, including tools that give doctors access (through desktop PCs or wireless handheld devices) to patient drug history, drug interactions, and generic alternatives. Allscripts also provides electronic document imaging and scanning.

7. Netarx

Principal: Sandy Kronenberg

The solution integrator provides IP communications hardware, network security, infrastructure cabling, wireless and comprehensive IP voice and data support services. Netarx revenue grew 104 percent in the past year, reaching $38 million. Contributing to those sales was Netarx' purchase of Analysts International last year. Ranked 409 on the 2010 VAR500, Netarx was also on the 2009 CRN Fast Growth list.

6. Varrow

CEO: Daniel Weiss

Varrow comes in at #499 on the 2010 VAR500. The storage and virtualization specialist grew 134 percent between 2008 and 2009, from $8 million to $19 million. All Varrow engineers, including CEO Dan Weiss, create a blog entry weekly at www.varrowblogs.com.

5. Nova Datacom

CEO and Owner: Min Cho

Number 417 on the 2010 VAR500 grew its revenue 152 percent in the past year, to $35 million. Nova Datacom was also recognized last year as a CRN Fast Growth company. It is a SBA Certified 8(a), SDB, minority woman-owned solution provider, which focuses on the public and private sectors.

4. Paragon Micro

CEO: Tad Dahl

Paragon Micro has grown 210 percent from 2008 to $21.1 million. This 492nd company on the list is a leading provider of IT computing products, software and advanced IT services.

3. Appirio

CEO: Chris Barbin

Appirio increased revenue 317 percent to $25 million during the past 12 months. The management comprises enterprise software executives with experience at Borland, SAP, webMethods, CollabNet, NetSuite, Oracle, Siebel and salesforce.com. In April, the company announced the start of a six-month program that would guarantee at least $1 million in annual total cost of ownership savings for qualified companies that cloudsource their entire IT infrastructure to Appirio and the public cloud, or Appirio will make up the difference.

2. MicroTech

President and CEO: Tony Jimenez

MicroTech provides information technology support and services, management consulting services, audio-visual telecommunications design and installation, and product solutions primarily to the federal government and city, state, and local agencies -- managing over half a million IT users daily. Jimenez, a service-disabled veteran, was selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the 2009 Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year for the Washington, D.C. Metro Area and the states of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia. Debuting on the list at 193, the company grew 375 percent between 2008 and 2009.

1. Ahead

President: David Adamany

Ahead lived up to its name and grew its revenue from just under $6 million in 2008 to $32.9 million in 2009 -- an amazing increase of 452 percent. This company, which wasn't even on last year's list, wound up at #436 in 2009. Last year, the infrastructure integrator announced its expansion into New York City.

Genesis Networks

CEO: James Goodman

The fastest growing company on the list ranked 116 on this year's VAR500--up from 422 last year. It saw phenomenal growth of 558 percent, with revenue climbing from $68.3 million to almost $420 million.

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The company provides end to end voice and data solutions , and helps customers select among various carrier and pricing options. In addition, it offers clients bill and contract analysis in an effort to reduce customers' costs.