Business 2.0 Magazine Reveals Annual ``B2 100'' Ranking of the Fastest-Growing Technology Companies for 2005.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Medical Technology Companies Dominate, Followed By Military Suppliers; Regionally, California Leads and Minnesota Emerges as New Tech Hot Spot

Business 2.0 magazine (www.business2.com) has released its 2005 B2 100 ranking of the fastest-growing technology companies. The complete list is featured in the June 2005 issue of the magazine, currently on newsstands.

With the aging baby boomer generation increasingly demanding medical products and services, nearly a third of the companies on the B2 100 came out of the field of medical technology. The other great force fueling growth this year was war, with 13 military suppliers making the list, including Ceradyne, which took the top spot.

As in 2003 and 2004, California again claims the most companies on the 2005 list, with 32. Minnesota has emerged as a new technology hot spot, home to 8 of the fast growing companies, up from 1 last year. The remainder of the U.S. regional breakdown is as follows: Massachusetts, 11; Georgia, New York, and Texas with 5; New Jersey and Pennsylvania with 4 each; Missouri, 3; Florida, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia with 2 each; and Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin made the list with 1 inclusion each.

For the first time, a Bangalore, India-based company, Infosys Technologies, made the list, further evidence that outsourcing has become a huge economic driver. In addition, US-based outsourcing outfit, Cognizant Technologies, also landed a spot this year. Four other international companies make the list, with one citation each for Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, and Israel.

The following are the top 10 companies to merit a spot in the 2005 B2 100:

1. Ceradyne (CRDN), Costa Mesa, CA - Ceradyne makes ceramic materials for everything from orthodontia to automobiles to microwave ovens, but the real action is on the battlefront. Its lightweight body and vehicle armor is the shield of choice for the US military, and demand should hold steady for the foreseeable future.

2. J2 Global Communications (JCOM), Los Angeles, CA - J2's eFax, which translate electronic facsimiles into email, has a subscriber base of nearly 9 million. But as growth slows for the core product, a newer service, JConnect Premier, which lets subscribers manage voice-mail and voice-to-email messages via a Web-based "inbox," is taking up the slack.

3. Clinical Data (CLDA), Smithfield, RI- Clinical data owns the market for blood-testing equipment that doctors can use right in their offices and backs it up with unparalled staff training and tech support - the key to industry dominance.

4. Ventana Medical (VMSI), Tucson, AZ- The aging population has created unprecedented demand for diagnostic services, so much that pathology labs can barely keep up. That's why more and more of them have turned to Ventana Medical's automated system, which speeds the painstaking process of making specimen slides.

5. Comtech Telecomm (CMTL), Melville, NY- As Comtech's civilian communications-gear business continues to hum along, the company has shifted into overdrive in equipping its biggest customer, the US military, with state-of-art RFID, microwave, and satellite systems to track equipment and personnel across the globe.

6. Electronic Arts (ERTS), Redwood City, CA - EB became a gamers' mecca by locating its outlets in high-traffic shopping centers and staffing them with know-it-all geeks. Earlier this year it became takeover bait for the smaller GameStop chain, which plans to use the acquisition to fortify itself against Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

7. Biosite (BSTE), San Diego, CA- Biosite's pioneering test to detect congestive heart failure was initially a tough sell to hospitals. But in 2001 the company hired an army of RNs to serve as its sales force, and it's been astonishingly effective: Half the hospitals in the United States now use the test, and sales are soaring 44 percent a year.

8. Infosys Technologies (INFY), Bangalore, India - Consulting giants Accenture and IBM, among others, are eating into Infosys's trade by hiring programmers and call-center reps in India. So last year the Indian offshoring giant fought back, turbocharging its sales by opening a consultancy of its own in the United States and staffing it with homegrown MBAs.

9. Cognizant Technologies (CTSH), Teaneck, NJ - As more companies outsource their business processes to India, Cognizant just keeps booming. CRM, ERP, and supply chain management are its mainstays, but the real growth is coming from testing software code-a time-consuming chore that US businesses are increasingly happy to send offshore.

10. Websense (WBSN), San Diego, CA - The business world's greatest productivity tool - the Internet - can also be its greatest time-sink. To ensure that staffers aren't playing online poker, companies are snapping up Websense's employee-monitoring tools. Websense keeps tabs on more than 20 million workers.

"The average B2 100 company has seen earnings grow 80 percent a year and revenue climb 26 percent. In the four years we've done the list, the numbers have never been higher. That says things are good for the economy now, and bodes well for the future," said Business 2.0 Editor Josh Quittner.

Companies in the fourth annual B2 100 cleared a series of demanding financial hurdles. The list of 100 was narrowed down from an initial group of 2,000 publicly traded tech companies. Criteria for making the final list included at least three years of trading on a major U.S. stock exchange, at least $50 million in annual revenue, and positive cash flow during the most recently reported 12 months. Business 2.0 editors then ranked the companies with the help of Zacks Investment Research of Chicago, using a combination of four financial criteria: growth in revenue, profit, and operating cash flow during the past three years, and 12-month stock return. Cash flow growth counted for 40 percent of a company's ranking; each of the other criteria counted for 20 percent.

A copy of the complete list is available upon request.

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Business 2.0 explores the new ways smart companies -- and the people who lead them -- are using strategy, technology, and innovation to succeed. The magazine is published by the FORTUNE Group at Time Inc., a Time Warner company.