Pulse: A VARBusiness 500 Snapshot

Talk about an exciting 12 months for this year's VARBusiness 500, our annual ranking of the top 500 solution providers in North America. Both the threshold and the ceiling of the list have risen this year, with revenue ranges from $18.5 million to $46.2 billion, compared to $15.3 million and $42.6 billion for last year's list. Of the 500 firms, 57 reported revenue of $1 billion or more for their 2004 fiscal year; that's six more than the previous year. And 10 companies had such a good year that they doubled in size (measured by 100 percent growth or more in fiscal year 2004 over fiscal year 2003). So, who are these ubersuccessful solution providers? The majority (89 percent) are familiar faces from last year's list, and more than half (56 percent) are privately held. Of note, 18 percent list themselves as a division or subsidiary of a larger company.

There was also a lot of movement on this year's list. Of the companies on our list last year, more than half (53 percent) improved their rankings, while one-third (33 percent) slipped. But one of the most notable statistics this year is in the area of mergers and acquisitions: Thirty-six companies experienced some M&A activity between January 2004 and April 2005, compared to just 11 in 2004.--Tanzina Vega & Marilyn O'Hara