Channel players appeared in abundance in the 2008 Deloitte Fast 50 list, an independent ranking of the UK’s fastest growing technology companies.

The average growth in turnover of a company reaching the top 50 was 2,161 per cent over five years. A mix of resellers, distributors and channel-centric vendors appeared in the list, which was compiled by market watcher Deloitte.

Specialist reseller Content and Code was the highest ranking at number eight in the list with growth of 2,855 per cent. The next channel player was VAR Daisy Communications which appeared at number 18 with 1202 per cent growth.

Rob Sims, product and marketing director at Daisy, said: “We have grown a lot in a short time. We are going through a reasonable amount of recruitment and are now focusing on organic growth.”

Close behind Daisy at number 20 was IT consultancy Excelian, which grew by 1175 per cent. Number 22 was VAR Comtec Enterprises, which grew 1,052 per cent.

The only distributor to appear in the list was mobility specialist Widget following its growth of 800 per cent.
Mark Needham, chairman of Widget, said: “We have seen sales grow this year because of the boom in GPS and we will continue to add to our growth. This is the first time we have been in the top 50.”

Close behind Widget was Chess at number 39, with a growth of 723 per cent.
David Pollock, chief executive of Chess, said: “We have invested about half a million pounds in development in the past two years. Everyone is focused on peak performance and exceeding customer expectations. We are constantly on the lookout for acquisitions to increase growth.”

Virtualisation specialist VAR Virtual IT made number 44 on the list with growth of 590 per cent.

Managing director David Somen, said: “We are looking to build on our success for the coming year. In addition to our managed services for SMEs we have also entered the software-as-a-service market. Our goal is to provide high-quality services to SMEs.”

The final two on the list were ISPs Griffin Internet and Entanet International, coming in at number 49 and 50, with growth of 523 per cent and 514 per cent respectively.

Andrew Dickinson, sales director at Griffin Internet, said: “When we took over the firm in 2005, we had a legacy of direct customers. We have hit the channel at the right time with the right products.”