How We Picked Them

Computerworld - To identify and select the Top 100 Emerging Companies for our special section, Computerworld invited companies to nominate themselves on our Web site from May 28 through June 29.

To qualify, companies had to be corporate-focused, for-profit ventures with less than $250 million in revenue and founded no earlier than 1996. Qualified companies also had to have an innovative product or service available by Dec. 31, 2001, as well as customer references. To be considered, companies had to have a management team in place (rather than one person acting as CEO and vice president of marketing, sales and so on).

Nomination forms were categorized by market segment. A panel of Computerworld editors reviewed the forms and selected finalists in each segment. The finalists' nomination forms were then sent to a panel of IT industry influencers - senior-level executives who are both providers and users of IT.

They are the following: Jon Carrow, director of global IT sourcing at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals; Cathy Hotka, vice president of IT at the National Retail Federation; Barry Kadets, CIO and vice president of information systems at Bacou USA Inc.; Andre V. Mendes, vice president and CIO at Pluvita Corp.; Larry Peterson, network vice president for corporate technical services at Gelco Information Network Inc.; John Puckett, vice president and general manager of wireless and Internet strategies at Polaroid Corp.; Kim Ross, CIO at Nielsen Media Research Inc.; Bob Schwartz, vice president and CIO at Panasonic Management Information Technology Services Co.; Priscilla Tate, director of the Technology Managers Forum; John Voeller, chief knowledge officer, chief technology officer and senior vice president at Black & Veatch; and Patrick Wise, vice president of e-commerce at Landstar System Inc.

The panel of IT influencers rated the finalists on the following characteristics:

• The company and its technology offer demonstrable value to corporate IT operations; the product or service addresses problems or challenges that IT managers face.

• The company is innovative; the product or service presents a new and creative approach to an IT issue and is viable.

• The company demonstrates signs of an ability to execute its strategy (revenue, revenue growth, funding and a stable management team).

These scores were totaled. Companies with the highest scores overall were selected for our Emerging Companies to Watch in 2002 list and placed into the most appropriate market category. They are listed here in alphabetical order by market segment.