Forbes Magazine has released its "200 Best Small Companies in America, 1997" survey, in which it has named Brio Technology as "one to watch for the Year 2000".
Brio Technology "is a late bloomer", writes Forbes. "The company spent its first 10 years as a small consulting firm developing software that makes it easy to extract information from large corporate databases. In fiscal 1994 Palo Alto, California-based Brio had revenues of only $2 million.
In March 1995 Swedish-born founder Yorgen Edholm (43) decided it was time Brio grew up. He went out and brought in the first group of outside investors. The firm expanded its sales efforts, stepped up its product development and hired managers.
"Since then Brio has taken off. The 225-employee company should post revenue of at least $30 million this fiscal year and turn profitable. Brio is still privately held, but we expect that it will be public within a year.
"Brio has partnerships with a wide range of database and data warehouse companies, including giants like Oracle, Microsoft and IBM as well as newcomers such as Red Brick, Prism Solutions and Informatica. Brio`s software runs on Macintosh, Unix and Windows systems.
"Corporate executives, managers and others use Brio`s software to help them drill through enormous databases to find the information they need. Some of Brio`s products are basic, allowing a user to view already configured reports from an Internet browser. Other software is for sophisticated users who want to develop their own reports, mixing and matching various types of data.
Competitors? The two principal ones are Paris-based Business Objects and Ottawa-based Cognos, both publicly held.
"Until now the market for such programs has been limited to corporate power users. But Edholm believes that the Internet and Java will change all that. For example, Brio is talking to a school district that is interested in providing Brio`s browser-based software to parents so they can look at their children`s grades, homework assignments, attendance and other information.
" `We want it [Brio software] to be as ubiquitous as spreadsheets,` says Edholm. That`s a big goal, but sometimes late bloomers surprise everyone."
Forbes notes that Brio is one of "these hot little technology firms" that "don`t qualify for our 200 Best Small Companies yet, but they`ve got good odds on making the list before the century turns.
"Who are going to be the small-company technology stars of the year 2000?" asks Forbes. "We asked our Silicon Valley Bureau to come up with some little-known small companies that are fast-growing and profitable but not yet ready for the Forbes 200 Best.
"Fast-growing was easy. Little-known was a bit tougher. But profitable? At a time when the mantra among small high-tech firms is growth at the expense of profits, that was a challenge.
"The following six firms meet the criteria. All are on a pace to make the list by the year 2000. Some may even shoot right by because revenues are growing so fast. All are companies you`ll be hearing more about."
Other companies on Forbes`s list are NeoMagic, Broadcom, International Network Services, Network Appliance and Packeteer.
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