Local high-tech firms noted

Fri., Sept. 3, 2004

By Tom Sowa toms@spokesman.com (509) 459-5492

Five Spokane-area businesses made a magazine list of the Top 100 Washington high-tech companies. The list, published in the August issue of Washington CEO magazine, ranks technology firms based on total number of employees.

The list is topped by the Boeing Co., followed by Microsoft Corp.

The No. 16 company is Spokane-based Itron Inc., which makes automated meter-reading devices and software for the utilities industry.

The 28th spot belongs to Spokane’s Hollister-Stier Laboratories. The other Spokane-area companies listed are Key Tronic Corp., 36th; World Wide Packets, 70th; and ReliON (formerly Avista Labs), 89th.

The magazine’s editors admit the list is not composed of pure tech companies. The list includes truck manufacturer PACCAR Inc. (at No. 6) and several other equipment-makers. The editors say they consider a company a technology firm if it devotes at least 5 percent of annual revenue to research and development.

By that measure, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle earns the state’s fifth spot, according to the magazine.

Even though Washington CEO labels Hollister-Stier a biotechnology firm, a company spokeswoman said that designation is not correct. The long-time Spokane company derives about half its revenue from production of allergy-response products and the other half from providing contract services for pharmaceutical firms. Even though Hollister-Stier uses advanced technology in both areas, it does not develop pharmaceuticals, said spokeswoman Janelle Jovick-Leonard.

“By that description we are not a biotech company,” she said. At the same time, she said Hollister-Stier is “pleased with the recognition we’ve received from Washington CEO magazine.”

The monthly magazine, published in Seattle, placed Amazon.com, one of the country’s largest online retailers, at the 11th spot. Also listed were F5 Networks at 23rd. The technology company has a Liberty Lake engineering unit, though its headquarters are in Seattle. The only other Eastern Washington company listed in the top 100 was Key Technology, the Walla Walla-based manufacturer of food processing equipment. It ranked 36th.

This was the first time Washington CEO has published a list of the state’s top high-tech companies.

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Local high-tech firms noted

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