Channel firms were among the big winners in auditor Deloitte's annual list of the UK's fastest growing technology firms.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list ranks companies based on revenue growth over the past five years. Top of the pile this year is sales and financial planning software firm Distribution Technology, which has boosted turnover by 18,225 per cent.

Unified communications specialist Timico has grown sales by more than 5,000 per cent in the past half-decade and took seventh spot. Consultancy and business software company Assima is in 24th after increasing revenue by 1,290 per cent.

Audiovisual integrator AVM bagged 29th place with turnover up by 1,103 per cent over the past five years. Chief executive Edward Cook claimed his firm's growth has been fuelled by public sector success.

"Like last year, AVM has achieved exceptional growth driven by demand for videoconferencing, maintenance and support and technology sales in the education sector," he said.

E-learning firm Redtray placed 32nd with 999 per cent top line growth. One place behind is managed services provider Bluefish, which has grown sales by 984 per cent.

Continuing the channel streak, web filtering vendor Bloxx took 34th and ISP murphx was 35th, with sales spikes of 966 and 960 per cent respectively. Peripherals distributor Widget was 38th with 924 per cent turnover growth, one place ahead of carrier O-bit Telecom, which has grown 829 per cent since 2004.

Digital signage vendor Onelan has enjoyed a sales rise of almost 800 per cent and took 40th place. Telecoms firm Gradwell was 44th with 726 per cent growth.

Geographically, the list is heavily tipped towards the capital, with 16 firms based in London and a further 11 in the south east. Cambridgeshire fared well, contributing five companies, the same number as Scotland and the south west and Wales.

One Northern Irish firm made the cut, while the north was represented by four companies and a trio of Midlands-based businesses also featured.