The VARBusiness 500 Awards Winners' Circle

The channel's best and brightest solutions providers were honored at the industry's premier awards ceremony Tuesday evening, the fifth annual VARBusiness 500 Awards.

High atop the Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room in New York City, 17 solution providers were recognized for their outstanding achievements in 2004, such as revenue growth, strong profitability, technology innovation and vertical expertise. Tuesday evening's event also featured a new award -- the VARBusiness 500 Company of the Year, which was given to Ciber (No. 63 on the 2005 VARBusiness 500 list) and its president and CEO, Mac Slingerlend. Ciber, headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colo., has continually grown its business over the years, most recently increasing its sales more than 20 percent in 2004 to reach $843 million in revenue. Ciber has also expanded its business by building out its outsourcing capabilities by creating domestic low-cost software development centers in Oklahoma City, Okla., and Tampa, Fla., this year.

"I'm proud of what our company has done and proud of the transformation we've made," Slingerlend said during his brief acceptance speech.

Other VARBusiness 500 Award winners covered a broad range of sizes, specialties and business models. John Danieli, president, CEO and founder of The Computer Merchant (No. 222), was given the VARBusiness 500 Lifetime Achievement Award. Danieli founded his solution-provider company in 1980 and previously served at IBM. He began his IT career as a data processor in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam war. The Computer Merchant had one of its best years ever in 2004 as the company saw sales increase 42 percent.

Mike Cox, chief executive of Logicalis' U.S. division (No. 104), received the VARBusiness 500 Executive of the Year Award for guiding his company to 15 percent growth in revenue while expanding Logicalis' portfolio through two key acquisitions of IBM solution providers. Jeskell (No. 244) received the Ascension Award for having the biggest jump in the VARBusiness 500 ranking year-over-year. Jeskell doubled its sales in 2004, which boosted the company from No. 382 last year to No. 244 on this year's list.

For the Revenue Growth Awards, Cognizant Technology Solutions took home the prize for the large solution-provider category. The IT outsourcing firm increased its sales an amazing 59 percent year-over-year to $586 million in 2004. For midsize solution providers, CyberCore Technologies (No. 195) won the Revenue Growth Award for improving sales from $55 million in 2003 to $122 million last year. And Perficient (No. 307) received the award for the small solution-provider category after sales climbed 95 percent year-over-year.

Profit Maker Award winners included Fiserv (No. 21), which saw 10 percent profit growth in 2004 while growing its revenue 27 percent to $3.7 billion, and Innodata Isogen (No. 322), whose profit margins jumped 39 percent last year. Meanwhile, Syspro (No. 338) scored the ISV of the Year Award for its stellar software business.

For the Vertica Market Awards, IDX Systems (No. 80) won the prize for health care, thanks to a thriving business focused on IT solutions for medical professionals. Telsource (No. 334) received the telecommunications award after experiencing double-digit sales growth in the telecom market. Optimus Solutions (No. 281) was recognized for its work in the manufacturing market, which helped the company boost its revenue nearly 90 percent in 2004. And Kanbay International (No. 154) was honored for excellence in the financial-services vertical after growing its business to $182 million in annual sales with its IT consulting services practice.

For the Technology Innovator Awards, Meridian IT Solutions (No. 302) was honored for its network-infrastructure expertise, which helped the solution provider achieve its 25th year of consecutive profitability. Sirius Computer Solutions (No. 97) received the Technology Innovator Award in the server category; the company has emerged as one of the strongest IBM eServer resellers in the world. And Presidio (No. 155), a government solution provider based in Greenbelt, Md., won the award in the security category after seeing its IT security practice lift annual sales more than 16 percent to $180 million in 2004.