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ON THE CUTTING EDGE
By Liese Hutchison
2000
Fast 50 Winners
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AeroTech
Service Group Inc.
Secure extranet solution provider
George Brill President
12208 Missouri Bottom Road
Hazelwood, MO 63042
314/895-4555
www.aerotechsg.com
A three-time FAST 50 winner and ranked in the middle at number
25 last year, AeroTech provides software development and support
that allows companies to offer secure portals to intranet systems.
The company offers a suite of software products: a secured proxy
gateway, data access system, electronic bidding system and remote
authorization services. Aerotech’s customers are primarily in
the automotive, defense and heavy manufacturing industries,
but the 9-year-old company also works with health-care systems.
“Hospitals need secure access to patient records and our systems
allow that,” says George Brill, president.
AeroTech has partnerships with companies in Finland, England
and the Benelux countries. New European accounts include the
Ministry of Defense in England, British Aerospace, Fokker and
the Finnish Ministry of Defense. The company, with 22 employees,
plans to open an office in Europe this year. “Right now, our
primary focus is to solidify strategic relationships we’ve established
over the last several months,” Brill states.
Alliance
Systems & Programming, Inc.
Web-enabling systems support
Robert A. Howard
President
1755 Larkin Williams
St. Louis, MO 63026
636/349-4434
www.alliancesys.com
A three-time FAST 50 winner ranked number 20 last year, Alliance
Systems & Programming has been very active in the last year working
on e-business design, business intelligence and data warehousing.
Alliance recently developed a web-enabling front-end, three-tiered
order entry system to a legacy fulfillment and distribution system
for a wholesale distribution company. This design incorporated
a DB/2 database and was developed using VisualAge for Java, Java
Servlets and Java Server Pages and IBM’s Websphere Application
Server. The company’s challenge in developing more web-enabling
systems and Java-based applications is in recruiting highly skilled
personnel, particularly with Java skills, says Bob Howard, president.
Business intelligence software integration is a new specialty
the company offers. Alliance provides implementation and training
services across industries using a diverse set of products in
the booming arena of business intelligence. Alliance has formed
partnerships and implemented systems with major worldwide business
intelligence software vendors. Founded in 1992, the company employs
65 people.
Amdocs
Convergent customer care, billing and order management solutions
Bruce Anderson
CEO
1390 Timberlake Manor Parkway
Chesterfield, MO 63017
314/212-7000
www.amdocs.com
New to the FAST 50, Amdocs’ niche is the telecommunications industry.
Ensemble, its customer care, billing and order management system,
is used by more than 75 of the world’s leading telecom companies.
Ensemble provides convergent support for voice and IP services
in both wireline and wireless environments. Clients include US
West, GTE, Nextel, SBC and Deutsche Telekom.
The company employs more than 6,200 software professionals worldwide,
600 of whom are based in St. Louis, the location of its development
center and headquarters for North American operations. Founded
in 1982 in Israel, Amdocs still has operations in Israel as well
as in 20 countries worldwide. The company, which moved its headquarters
to St. Louis in 1984, expects to grow significantly in St. Louis.
The publicly traded company has seen 39 percent compound growth
over the last five years, notes Tom O’Brien, director of investor
relations. “Our first big customer in the United States was Southwestern
Bell,” O’Brien states.
BC Group
International, Inc.
Biomedical testing equipment
Bill Collier
President
9415 Gentry Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63125
314/638-3800
www.bcgroupintl.com
When Bill Collier graduated from Hancock Elementary-Ward 1, he
never dreamed that someday he would save the 1904-era building
from demolition and move his burgeoning biomedical test equipment
into the classrooms in which he once studied. Currently occupying
4,000 of the building’s 15,000 square feet, Collier is in the
midst of renovations that will add a loading dock and warehouse
space. But he plans to keep the flavor of the building, including
chalkboards and the old school clock hanging in the hallway. The
cafeteria where he used to eat now houses the testing and repair
lab.
The company has clients around the world who use its branded and
distributed biomedical testing equipment. EKG, x-ray equipment
and other monitoring devices must be regularly tested to make
sure the equipment is calibrated correctly and provides the right
information to the health-care professional. Founded in 1988,
BC Group employs 16 people and is new to the FAST 50.
Bradford
& Galt, Inc.
Information systems consulting and staffing
Brad Layton
President
12400 Olive Blvd., Suite 430
St. Louis, MO 63141
314/434-9200
www.bradford-galt.com
Ranked number 21 in 1998’s FAST 50 and 22 in 1999, Bradford &
Galt’s business keeps growing. The company has 250 employees throughout
its offices in the Midwest, with 150 located in St. Louis.
Eighty-five percent of Bradford & Galt’s business is supplemental
staffing/technology consulting and the rest is IT permanent placement.
Brad Layton, president, notes the challenge to his company’s and
other FAST 50 companies’ growth is that there aren’t enough qualified
IT professionals available. “IT has a one-million-person job shortage
nationally for 2000 and a 35 percent shortage is being experienced
in the Midwest,” he states. In addition to finding experienced
personnel, Layton is working to get the company to the point that
their success in St. Louis can be duplicated in other markets.
The company is focusing on strengthening its infrastructure and
doubling its sales in its existing markets. The goal—$50 million
in sales in the next three years.
Bridge Information
Systems, Inc.
Stock trading, network systems and market data
Tom Wendel
Chairman & CEO
717 Office Parkway
St. Louis, MO 63141
314/567-8100
www.bridge.com
Tom
Wendel, Bridge Information Systems, Inc. |
Ranked 13th last year in the FAST 50, Bridge, together with its
principal operating units, Bridge Information Systems, BridgeNews,
Bridge Trading, Savvis and Telerate, is the largest provider of
financial information and related services in North America, and
the second-largest, fastest-growing provider in the world. Bridge’s
three main business lines include financial information and news
products, trading and transaction services and network services.
Bridge’s information products include a wide range of workstations,
web-based applications and digital data feeds that provide comprehensive
market data, in-depth news and powerful analytic tools. Headquartered
in New York City, with its technology and trading activities centered
in St. Louis, Bridge’s more than 5,000 employees serve customers
from offices in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East,
Africa, Asia and the Pacific Rim.
Every day more than a quarter of a million investment professionals
at more than 10,000 customer firms, including investment and commercial
banks, money managers, investment advisors, broker/dealers, traders,
exchanges, corporations and governmental agencies rely on Bridge
products and services.
Chemir/Polytech Laboratories, Inc.
Materials identification specialists
Shri Thanedar, Ph.D.
President
2672 Metro Blvd.
Maryland Heights, MO 63043
314/291-6620
www.chemir.com
A four-time FAST 50 winner, Chemir/Polytech troubleshoots problems
that are chemical in nature. Ranked 27th last year, Shri Thanedar,
president, expects the company to continue its pattern of growth.
“We anticipate 20 percent growth over last year with about $4
million in sales,” he states. The company is looking at acquiring
other testing labs. “We want to create a network of labs like
ours and within five years we’d like to be at $30 to $50 million
in sales,” Thanedar says.
The company’s 10 Ph.D.s in chemistry, along with its 20 other
employees, analyze materials for identification, testing and deformulation.
Thanedar explained his company’s business by citing an example
of work they conducted earlier this year. On a Friday afternoon
soda was received by his office for testing when people in New
York were found to be getting sick by drinking the soda. Pesticides
were at first suspected, but by Sunday morning, Chemir/Polytech’s
lab received the results—diesel oil from the heating system had
leaked into the sodas during the canning process. The chemical
case was solved.
Conference
Technologies, Inc. (CTI)
Telecommunication solution provider for presentations
Dennis Woodhouse
President & CEO
11804 Borman Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63146
314/993-1400
www.conferencetech.com
Ranked 49th last year, Conference Technologies consults, designs
and engineers award-winning conference, presentation and training
facilities throughout the United States. Its in-house conference
facility allows smaller companies the luxury of a high-tech, executive
boardroom and presentation center without the high-price expense
of building one in house.
But if a corporation wants an in-house executive boardroom or
conference center, Conference Technologies designs and installs
high-tech conference equipment such as large screen projectors,
portable videoconferencing equipment, video switching systems,
indoor and outdoor audio systems, and portable presentation systems.
In addition to renting equipment for courtrooms, trade shows,
conventions, board rooms and training facilities, the company
offers a training facility in-house, complete with ISDN lines,
laptops and flexible seating.
Founded in 1988, Conference Technologies is a three-time FAST
50 winner.
Conley
& Associates, Inc.
Technical documentation & electronic system integration
Cecilia J. Conley
President and CEO
930 Kehrs Mill Road, Suite 325
Ballwin, MO 63011
636/230-0234
www.commo.com
Conley & Associates’ focus is on two main areas: integrating command,
control, communications, computers and information (C41) on military
vessels and technical writing and illustration work for manuals.
A three-time FAST 50 winner, the company ranked 21st last year.
Certified as a Small Disadvantaged Business 8 (a), 85 percent
of the company’s clients are governmental departments and agencies
such as the Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army. Corporate
clients include Boeing and LaBarge. Conley & Associates’ growth
area is technical writing. “We have 20 people working in tech
writing and it is the fastest growing part of our business,” notes
Cecilia Conley, president and CEO. But the C41 integration portion
of the business is also doing well. Jim Conley, Cecilia’s husband
who has a background in engineering, is busy at the company’s
Newport News, Va., and Merritt Island, Fla., offices, installing
C41 systems in Army vessels. The company has 29 full-time and
nine part-time employees.
Cornerstone
Solutions Group
Custom software engineering company
Arnie Sprunger
President
12400 Olive Blvd., Ste. 505
St. Louis, MO 63141
314/469-9910
www.csgsolutions.com
One of only six five-time winners on the FAST 50 list this year,
Cornerstone Solutions ranked 31st last year, but making the list
isn’t Cornerstone’s main goal. “Growth isn’t an objective of ours
even though we’ve been on the FAST 50 list the last five years,”
notes Arnie Sprunger, president. “Our objective is improving the
methods and techniques on how we service our customers.”
A software development company, Sprunger thrives on the challenges
clients present. “If a customer’s problem is unique enough that
an off-the-shelf solution doesn’t work, then they come to us.”
The company employs 16 people and expects to have 25 on board
by year’s end. “We want to be big enough to do hard and interesting
projects, but stay nimble enough to react quickly.” The company’s
focus is on database tracking systems and it just developed a
software package for Atlantic Assurance and Bank of America’s
Home Focus program.
Daugherty
Systems
Software application developer
Ron Daugherty
One CityPlace Dr., Ste. 240
St. Louis, MO 63141
314/432-8200
www.daugherty.com
A four-time FAST 50 winner, Daugherty Systems ranked 39th last
year. Founded in 1984, Daugherty Systems works to produce business
results for its client with leading information technologies.
The company has more than 400 employees in five offices: St. Louis,
Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and Kalamazoo, Mich.
“We provide a unique combination of industrial strength software
development and systems integration with specialized management
consulting to quickly and effectively produce business results,”
states Ron Daugherty, president. “Recently, we’ve delivered e-commerce
and business intelligence projects to some pretty heavy hitters
such as Abbott Labs, Ameritech, Anheuser-Busch, Bernina, Centex
Home Builders, Edward Jones, Federal Reserve Bank, Monsanto, Municipal
Trade, PNC Mortgage and Trinity Industries.”
In addition, Daugherty Systems owns the Wholesaler Computer System
(WCS) product, a total business solution for beer wholesalers.
“This [product] is an example of the type of complete product-based
business solutions we have begun to deliver to the market place,
and we will continue to build a portfolio of world-class products
and services that evolve with technology and serve the business
needs of our clients,” he says.
Digital
Concepts of Missouri, Inc.
Designer and builder of electronic control devices
Paul Decker
President
13789 Rider Trail North, Ste. 101
Earth City, MO 63045
314/770-1636
www.digitalcpt.com
Paul
Decker, Digital Concepts of Missouri, Inc. |
A three-time winner, Digital Concepts ranked 17th last year on
the FAST 50 list. The company designs and develops electronic
consoles and motor controls for fitness devices such as treadmills,
steppers and exercise bikes. In the pool and spa control industry,
Digital’s systems pinpoint the chemicals needed, check the water
flow and determine the age of the filter. A new product is expected
out early next year that will automatically perform a chemical
analysis of a swimming pool from a person’s house—telling the
owner exactly what chemicals to put in the pool and how long they
must wait after adding the chemicals before they can use the pool.
Digital’s 175 employees are located in St. Louis, where the prototypes
are designed and engineered, and in Juarez, Mexico, where the
products are manufactured. The company is opening a contract assembly
facility in Taiwan later this year. “We export $3 to $4 million
of our products to Asia, so it makes sense to open a facility
there instead of shipping components from Asia to Juarez then
sell the assembled components and ship them back to the Asian
market,” states Paul Decker, president.
Eclipse
Networks
(formerly Tapestry Integration Specialists, Inc.)
Interactive voice response developer
John Mandelker
President
716 Geyer
St. Louis, MO 63104
314/344-0066
www.tapestry.com
Tapestry Integration Specialists didn’t rest on its laurels last
year after ranking 18th on the FAST 50 list in 1999. The company’s
Simple Chat product received 1999 Product of the Year honors,
the Simple*Contact Center product was best of show at the March
2000 CT Expo, on June 2 the company was bought by Eclipse Networks
and on Oct. 1 it will move to its new facilities in Soulard.
The company’s focus has always been on call centers, but the purchase
by Eclipse allows Tapestry to look at e-commerce solutions for
call centers. The buzzword now is contact centers. “Call centers
aren’t enough for most companies; you also need to have contact
centers via the Internet that route customer requests to the right
person,” states John Mandelker, president.
Tapestry expects to double its staff of 20 to fill the new space
in Soulard within a year.
Express
Scripts, Inc.
Pharmacy benefit management
Barrett Toan
President and CEO
14000 Riverport Dr.
Maryland Heights, MO 63043
314/770-1666
www.express-scripts.com
Barrett
Toan, Express Scripts, Inc. |
A three-time FAST 50 winner, Express Scripts keeps growing and
growing. The company has 5,000 employees in 10 facilities covering
seven states, and also has operations in Canada. In St. Louis,
Express Scripts will occupy three office buildings in Riverport
within the year and expects the electronic fulfillment of prescriptions
to propel its future growth.
“One tenth of one percent of all prescriptions are filled electronically
and industry analysts expect it to increase to 30 percent within
five years,” states Barrett Toan, president & CEO. The company
just signed preferred marketing arrangements with Allscripts and
PocketScript to promote online physician prescribing devices.
“The doctor will be able to check the formulary of the drug, send
the prescription to the pharmacy, then access Express Scripts
to check patient history, drug history, guidance on dosage and
drug interactions.” Having physicians prescribe on-line will save
Express Scripts time and money, since right now the pharmacist
typically calls to clarify one out of every three prescriptions
before dispensing the medication to the patient. The electronic
system will also help eliminate mistakes and offer greater convenience
to doctors.
First Class
Solutions, Inc.
Network and communication support
Ray Dunn
President
2060 Concourse Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63146
314/997-8998
www.FirstClassSolutions.net
First Class Solutions provides Internet and ADSL (Asymmetrical
Digital Subscriber Line) access, SDSL, voice over IP, network
and communications support, server hoteling, web site design and
hosting, and computer network installation and support. The company
also has a health-care consulting division that provides support
to health-care facilities nationwide.
First Class Solutions is one of the few in the region that offers
ADSL technology, a high-speed, point-to-point digital Internet
connection using the telephone. This technology provides Internet
access at speeds up to 10 times faster than ISDN technology.
Ray Dunn founded the company as a partnership in 1988 and incorporated
two years later. The company employs 49 people and is the seventh
largest Internet service provider in the region. The challenge
to the company’s growth is finding qualified staff, Dunn notes.
Gateway
EDI, Inc.
Electronic data interchange specialists
Tim Fogerty
President and CEO
9200 Watson Road, Suite 201
St. Louis, MO 63126
314/842-2726
www.gatewayedi.com
Tim
Fogerty, Gateway EDI, Inc. |
A FAST 50 newcomer, Gateway EDI was founded in 1984 and first
developed software packages that allowed physicians to bill insurance
companies from their offices. In 1987 the company interfaced its
product with an electronic Medicare processing product developed
by General American. Finally in 1995 the company decided to focus
only on the electronic claims side of its business and sold the
software portion.
With 41 employees, Gateway EDI processes 1.5 million claims a
month. “We’re the largest clearinghouse in Missouri and the largest
privately held in the Midwest,” notes Tim Fogerty, president &
CEO. The company handles everything electronically: processing
medical claims, checking claim status, determining patient eligibility,
payment and producing patient statements for its clients. Almost
90 percent of all Medicare claims are handled electronically.
Fogerty says Gateway EDI will continue to flourish because private
insurance companies such as GHP and United Healthcare are currently
at the 30 to 40 percent mark and have a goal of reaching 100 percent.
Interlock
Resources, Inc.
IT consulting
Wayne B. Haar
President 222 S. Meramec, Suite 202
Clayton, MO 63105
314/726-2200
www.interlockresources.com
Wayne
B. Haar, Interlock Resources, Inc. |
A FAST 50 newcomer, Interlock Resources provides information technology
consulting and staffing services for clients such as Anheuser-Busch,
BJC Health System, MasterCard, Maritz, Monsanto, Navisys and Enterprise
Rent-A-Car.
Interlock has been in business since 1989, but the company remained
a small sideline business for its owners until 1997, when it opened
its current headquarters. Since then, it has grown from a handful
of computer support technicians to a staff of 60 people offering
software development, support and project management services.
Management attributes Interlock’s exceptional growth in a very
competitive industry to its dedication to serving its clients
and consultants.” We have two masters — our clients and our consultants.
So, our name, logo, and tag line ‘providing the missing pieces’
were designed to communicate our commitment to finding a good
fit between our clients’ needs and consultants’ needs and career
goals,” says Wayne Haar, president. Aside from offering competitive
salaries and benefits, the management team focuses on attracting
and retaining top-notch IT professionals through training, career
development, growth opportunities and personal attention. Employee
activities help the consultants and managers connect on a personal
level and maintain a corporate culture, which can be a challenge
since the consultants are at client sites most of the time.
2000
Fast 50 Winners
A-I | J-Q | R-Z
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