Local firms abound in Deloitte Fast 50.

Nineteen greater San Fernando Valley companies landed on the Deloitte 2005 Los Angeles Technology Fast 50 list, two fewer local companies than made the list last year.

The listing, which is based on the rate of growth over a five-year period and is COmpiled from among entrants in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, this year included five Valley newcomers and 14 firms that also made the cut in the 2004 Fast 50 list.

Their rankings within the group will be announced next month.

"We have companies that have repeated anywhere from a couple of times to as much as 11 years," said Kris Kaufmann, a partner with Deloitte. "So clearly there are companies that are able to repeat and what's interesting is that some of them are not small companies."

This year, the companies on the Deloitte Fast 50 saw an average growth rate of 1,517 percent, down considerably from last year when the Fast 50 averaged a growth rate of 2,139 percent.

But such staggering rates are typically limited to newer companies that are still in the early years of their life cycle.

Many of the companies on this year's list have already reached substantial size, making their achievements all the more notable.

Among the current crop of repeaters on Deloitte's Fast 50, for example, are Amgen, with revenues in excess of $11.6 billion; United Online Inc., with sales of $492 million, Tekelec at $475 million and Digital Insight Corp., a $200 million company.

The newcomers included Advanced Photonix Inc., a developer of opto-electronic solutions based in Camarillo, CaminoSoft Corp., a developer of storage software and hardware in Westlake Village; Chad Therapeutics Inc., Chatsworth-based maker of respiratory care devices; Infospectrum Inc., an Agoura Hills software provider to companies including Northrop Grumman; and THQ Inc., a videogame developer in Calabasas Hills.

Some, like Advanced Photonix; Internet Specialties West Inc. in Agoura Hills, which is marking its third year on the Fast 50 and has landed on the Fast 500 listing, Deloitte's national ranking, for the past two years; and ValueClick Inc., another repeater, were aided in their growth by an aggressive acquisition strategy.

But many also reaped the benefits of increased interest in certain areas of technology, such as Internet-related businesses.

"We've grown internally quite a bit even though we've done these acquisitions, and it's been that (internal) growth that's spurred the numbers," said Robert Johnson, president of IS West.

Several of the companies on this year's list benefited from increased adaptation of Internet and other electronic technologies as companies continue to look for cost and time savings.

Electronic signature technology developer Topaz Systems Inc. in Simi Valley, which last year landed on the Fast 50 with a growth rate of 294 percent, is seeing much of its success come from the move of electronic signature processes into the mainstream.

"The benefits of our technology are twofold," said Michael Zank, marketing manager for Topaz. "We eliminate hardware, paper, postage, shipping, all those things that have costs in space, time and money. The second is we're saving these companies a ton of time."

Deloitte's CEO survey, which accompanies its Technology Fast 500 efforts, notes that top executives view IP-based applications as the industry segment with the greatest potential for growth in the short term.

Fast 50

The Greater Valley Winners *

Advanced Photonix Amgen Inc. Brilliant Digital Entertainment CaminoSoft Chad Therapeutics Digital Insight Diodes Infospectrum Internet Specialties West Micro Solutions Enterprises Nomadix SageMetrics TechnoCom Tekelec THQ Topaz Systems United Online ValueClick Youbet.com

* In alphabetical order. Rankings will be announced Sept. 13