By Kristen Kenedy, CRN

The CRN Fast Growth 100 list and special report puts the spotlight on 100 solution providers that achieved stellar results by focusing on specialties ranging from managed services to application development to system building. These solution providers hit the mark by honing their business models and generating demand for cutting-edge IT solutions. » Read the Listings

New York, NY (Jan 31, 2005) - CRN -- Achieving growth in an economy still under pressure is no easy task. But the Fast Growth 100 solution providers demonstrate that success can be achieved even under difficult conditions—and it can emerge from a diversity of business models.

The Fast Growth 100 List, based on a survey and call for nominations conducted by CRN during the fourth quarter and ranked by revenue growth over the 12 months ended June 30, 2004, represents every conceivable variation on the solution provider theme.

The range starts with Maverick Computers, the fastest-growing solution provider in the survey, which not coincidentally was also recognized by CRN earlier this year as the fastest-growing custom-system builder. Maverick, West Palm Beach, Fla., relied on contract manufacturers as it became increasingly focused on its custom-system business. Pumping up product sales was by no means the only way solution providers achieved above-average growth. Among the top performers are solution providers that are developing custom applications, focusing on vertical market solutions, driving growth through managed services and building expertise in security and other technology areas.

Though a mixed bag, there was one common theme that helped many of these solution providers excel: They targeted niches or became increasingly specialized.

Net@Work, which grew 31 percent over the period, honed its focus on the growing hedge fund market. Edward Solomon, co-founder and co-president of Net@Work, said the New York-based solution provider dedicated a sales force to the vertical market to ensure that they understood their customers’ business needs at a deep level.

The team’s expertise in the field and tight customer relationships generated incremental business and in one instance almost tripled the size of the contract, Solomon said. “We were originally brought in to set up the IT room, put hardware and software on the desks,” he said. “That was expanded into disaster recovery, moving a data center and [providing] faxing and office equipment. We are still working on a document-imaging project.”

Outsourcing through partnerships was another common theme among many solution providers on our inaugural list. When CEO John Marks, a former CDW executive, started JDM Infrastructure, Rosemont, Ill., in 2000, he stuck with his core competency of hardware sales and turned to partners to provide services, a strategy that helped his business grow 200 percent to $36 million. “I saw that many companies had underutilized technicians, and I could take advantage of that,” Marks said...