Tech Tacks

A genetics-testing lab, a robotics company, a clearinghouse of life-sciences information-organizations that provide technology support on a global basis. In Southwest Florida?

You bet.

Florida's lower left coast might not be a San Diego or Research Triangle Park, but the technology-based companies in the region are flourishing.

"It's definitely growing within our area-both technology companies that are developing technology here and companies that are siting their corporate headquarters here," says Tammie Nemecek, president of the Economic Development Council of Collier County.

Many of these "quiet companies" move in under the radar and thrive without drawing much attention. Some dovetail with existing industries, such as hospitality and tourism; others are here simply because their executives were drawn by Southwest Florida's quality of life.

"Even I'm surprised at the individuals and businesses that are finding this community and finding they can be successful here," says Nemecek. "Our opportunity is to keep them here and help them grow, and bring the word to other [prospective] businesses."

No longer do Web-site designers dominate the local technology industry, although Southwest Florida certainly has its share of Web designers, Internet service providers, and computer service and repair businesses. Companies now represent the gamut of technology, from information technology to biotech to robotics. A few are relatively large companies or subsidiaries of national or international companies. But while most still are small, with 25 or fewer employees, that doesn't mean they aren't powerful.

A number of them have a global reach.

The following list is by no means comprehensive, but represents the growing diversity of technology-based companies found in Collier and Lee-and even Hendry-counties.

Allen Systems Group

Huge organizations with huge amounts of information to juggle-such as Verizon, Coca-Cola and Deutsche Telekom-get help from Allen Systems Group. Launched in 1986 by Arthur L. Allen, who discovered?that retirement didn't suit him, the privately held ASG has grown into a nearly $200-million corporation with about 50 offices and 915 employees worldwide serving some 7,200 corporations. Headquartered in Naples, it recently broke ground on a new facility at its Seventh Avenue North campus. Through mergers, acquisitions and other arrangements, ASG has accumulated an array of technological product families that manage security, applications, operations, information, performance and infrastructure. ASG helps integrate networks and mainframes with different operating systems. So if two companies merge, ASG can help integrate their mainframes and networks so information flows smoothly and efficiently.

President and CEO: Arthur L. Allen

Location: 1333 Third Ave. S., Naples

In Naples since: 1986

Employees: about 200 in Naples;

915 total

Web site: asg.com

Arthrex Inc.

Naples-based Arthrex Inc. and its subsidiary, Arthrex Manufacturing Inc., create and produce medical devices used in arthroscopy, sugery done through small incisions made in joints to relieve injuries and disease ranging from arthritis and tendonitis to torn cartilage and bone fractures. Arthrex Inc. not only develops and manufactures the devices, which it ships throughout the United States and about 60 other countries, it holds training workshops for sales representatives and surgeons at the Naples campus. Reinhold Schmieding founded the company in 1981 in Munich and moved the corporate headquarters in 1991 to Naples. The private corporation moved at the end of 2003 to a new facility, about three times the size of the former, that houses its headquarters as well as facilities for research and development, testing, customer service and marketing, and medical education.

President and CEO: Reinhold Schmieding

Location: 1370 Creekside Blvd., Naples

In Naples since: 1991

Employees: about 350 in Naples; 550 total

Web site: www.arthrex.com

BioSpace

Want to check for breaking news about adult attention deficit disorder research, cat allergies or genetically modified rice? Want to see what Pfizer's stock is doing? Biospace.com has been compiling and disseminating information about the life sciences industry for 20 years-online for the past 10. After spending most of those years in San Francisco, where it maintains a small office, it was acquired by New Jersey-based Career Innovations in 2003 and moved to downtown Naples. A clearinghouse for all kinds of life-sciences-related data, the private company offers a subscription database, stages career fairs and sells advertising on its Web site (ranging from display ads to career postings). It receives about 1.5 million visitors each month, from incubator start-ups and job seekers to major pharmaceutical companies.

CEO: Chris Amato (based in New Jersey)

Location: 300 Fifth Ave. S., Naples

In Naples since: 2003

Employees: six in Naples; 25 to 30 total

Web site: www.BioSpace.com

Coastal Computer Corporation

When this small Fort Myers company started in 1980, it was developing a DOS-like operating system for businesses, but the Microsoft Windows revolution forced it to shift its direction. It started developing Windows-based software, and now it is one of only six software-development companies tapped by Microsoft to work on a new accounting software product that will be bundled with the well-known Microsoft Office package. Coastal Computer Corporation creates software for small- and medium-sized service companies that have technicians in the field, such as electricians and computer-service businesses. Its software helps companies with scheduling jobs, tracking technicians, sales and inventory, and other functions. Customers are worldwide. Last year, Microsoft chose it from among thousands of software developers to work on new small-business accounting software, to be introduced later this year, to compete with QuickBooks.

President: Dean E. Schreiner

Location: 44 Barkley Circle, Fort Myers

In Fort Myers since: 1980

Employees: about 25

Web site:

www.coastalcomputercorporation.com

CPR Tools Inc.

Sometimes critical information gets accidentally wiped from a hard drive. Other times it's done intentionally, and occasionally unlawfully. But rarely is the data completely gone, and CPR Tools Media Research and Recovery can help recover it. The company was founded in 1995, and owners Tony and Candy Alvarez moved the company from West Palm Beach to LaBelle-an area better known for its vegetable and citrus industry-after they happened on the town and fell in love with it during a trip to Fort Myers. The company writes and sells security and data-recovery software for clients nationwide, from small businesses to large corporations. Among them: doctors' offices and law firms, as well as law-enforcement agencies that call on CPR to resuscitate their data.

CEO: Tony Alvarez

Location: 730 E. Cowboy Way, LaBelle

In LaBelle since: 2003

Employees: 25

Web site: www.cprtools.net

Dominion Satellite/Sky Angel

Dominion Satellite, which operates under the name of Sky Angel, is one of four direct-broadcast satellite licensees operating in the United States, along with such familiar names as DISH Network and DIRECTV. Unlike the others, it provides an alternative to secular programming. Sky Angel offers 36 channels of Christian television and radio to homes throughout the continental United States. Robert W. Johnson Sr., who died in 2004, founded the company in 1981 because he found mainstream programming increasingly offensive, although it took another 15 years before his product actually went on air. The privately owned network airs Christian movies, sitcoms and prayer gatherings as well as such special programs as The Making of The Passion of the Christ. It also carries culturally diverse programming, including a broadcast from Israel and Spanish-language options. Dominion currently uses uplink facilities in Arizona, but has purchased land in Collier County where it plans to build its own permanent facility.

CEO: Robert W. Johnson Jr.

Location: 3050 Horseshoe Drive, Naples

In Naples since: 1981

Employees: about 100

Web site: www.SkyAngel.com

Ecological Laboratories, Inc.

Homeowners with koi ponds use products made by Ecological Laboratories. So do shrimp farmers, golf-course managers, agricultural corporations with livestock waste to treat, and municipalities that recycle water. Last year, a community in Poland approached the company to clean up lake pollution that was keeping tourists away. Based in New York with research and manufacturing facilities in Cape Coral, Ecological Laboratories produces microbial products to remove algae, waste and other biological pollutants from water. Its products treat environmental problems with micro-organisms-rather than chemicals and synthetics-that process organic contaminants naturally. The private biotechnology company produces everything from mosquito control products to fish food to industrial-sludge remediation products, all of which are sold throughout the world.

President and CEO: Barry Richter

Cape Coral location: 2525 NE 9th Ave.

In Cape Coral since: 1997

Employees: 35 in Cape Coral;

5 in New York

Web site: www.microbelift.com

FindWhat.com

This Internet marketing company has earned a place in the global market since bursting into business in Fort Myers. Now publicly traded on NASDAQ, it has locations on three continents. FindWhat expanded its grip with several acquisitions last year, although it is facing legal challenges to some of its technology and its stock dropped this year. The company focuses on "performance-based marketing" by tracking the effectiveness of its clients' online advertising. It markets through specialized search engines, such as Verizon's SuperPages.com and bizjournals.com, where FindWhat's clients pay to be listed on a certain priority level. The company makes money when someone clicks on an ad or, through other technology, when someone calls a client's business at a phone number listed on a Web site. Among its recent additions is Comet Systems, which produces screen savers and cursors, and custom-branded toolbars, which FindWhat's clients can provide to its customers and advertisers.

Chairman and CEO: Craig Pisaris-Henderson

Location: 5220 Summerlin Commons Blvd., Suite 500, Fort Myers

In Fort Myers since: 1998

Employees: 280 in Fort Myers;

nearly 550 total

Web site: www.FindWhat.com

Food Innovations

Food Innovations brings some of the world's most exclusive seafood, meats, produce and other products directly to its customers-white-tablecloth premium restaurants, hotels and celebrity chefs. Chef Joe DiMaggio Jr. founded the company in 2000 and moved its New Bedford, Mass., operations to Naples, where it is headquartered. Publicly traded on the Pink Sheets, a quotation service for over-the-counter securities markets, it also has offices in Orlando and Costa Mesa, Calif. It manages a virtual platform of about 5,000 perishables, many from boutique and artisanal growers-from Pacific sea urchins to Madagascar vanilla beans, from squab to smoked-pheasant sausage, from truffles to foie gras. Fishing captains and other suppliers notify Food Innovations in real time, and chefs and other customers can go online 24 hours a day to see what's fresh.

CEO: Chef Joe DiMaggio Jr.

Location: 1923 Trade Center Way,?Suite 1, Naples

In Naples since: 2001

Employees: 13 in Naples; 16 total

Web site: www.FoodInno.com

Gartner Inc.

Anyone who reads much about the business of technology is bound to have come across quotes and statistics from Gartner, Inc., a corporation that provides research, analysis and consulting on the global information technology industry. It serves more than 10,000 clients in corporations and governmental agencies worldwide, helping them make decisions about their technology needs and use. Publicly held and traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., and has 75 locations in countries from Asia and Australia to England and Brazil. In North America, its second largest office is in Fort Myers, where it provides sales and finance functions, and supports operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and South America.

CEO: Gene Hall

Fort Myers-based executive: Catherine Baker, group vice president, financial operations

Location: 12600 Gateway Blvd., Fort Myers

In Fort Myers since: 1997

Employees: 300 in Fort Myers;?about 3,500 total

Web site: www.Gartner.com

Guardian Technology Solutions

For all the benefits technology brings, it opens the door to many threats. They might be as simple as employees whiling away work hours on eBay or e-mailing friends. Or it could be as disastrous as an underhanded executive stealing files-or a hurricane wiping out a server. That's why Naples-based InfiNetwork and Testament Digital Forensics are thriving. Subsidiaries of Guardian Technology Solutions, they specialize in computing security and risk-management issues related to IT management, from properly setting up a company's computer network and protecting it from viruses to tracking criminal or fraudulent activities through its digital forensics capabilities. Managing partner Stephen Myers, who started InfiNetwork in 1987, is one of only about 150 civilians certified by the Southeast Cybercrime Institute as a Computer Forensic Examiner. Guardian can monitor a network continuously and respond to an alert before a crisis ensues. It's also "vendor-neutral," working with Linux and Novell as well as Microsoft systems. Clients include government agencies and corporations around the country.

President and CEO: Stephen Myers

Location: 3401 Tamiami Trail N.,

Suite 210, Naples

In Naples since: 1987

Employees: 11

Web site: www.infinetwork.com

GuestClick

GuestClick's software powers a variety of tools to market destinations while helping people get to them. Founded in 1999 in Bonita Springs by Aaron Shepherd, the private company designs custom software for clients in the travel industry. If you spot a package deal on Best Western's Web site and click on it, you're using GuestClick software. Its products get hotel ads onto travel agents' computer screens and measure the effectiveness of the hotel's marketing efforts. The company also is responsible for Mobil Travel Guide's Web database, which supplies information to its well-known publications. Through GuestClick, visitors to Mobil's site can plan itineraries that include places to stay, dine and visit along the way. The private company's most recent addition is VacationClick, used on convention and visitor bureaus Web sites to let people book hotels directly. Already in use at www.visit-naples.com, VacationClick's offerings are broadening to include thousands of vacation rentals in Southwest Florida and across the country.

President and CEO: Aaron Shepherd

Location: 3301 Bonita Beach Road,

Bonita Springs

In Bonita Springs since: 1999

Employees: 10

Web site: www.GuestClick.com

MediaBrains, Inc.

If you've called an 800 number you found in an ad on the Golf Digest Web site, or filled out a reader service card in Condé Nast Traveler, it's probably been noted by MediaBrains, Inc. The company, founded and based in Naples, tracks response to advertising in consumer and trade publications. The information it compiles is useful not only to publishers, but also to businesses considering advertising in a certain publication. In addition, MediaBrains produces and sells ads in industry-specific supplier directories-a directory that lists all suppliers who cater to the insurance industry, for instance. Other clients of the private company include such well-known names as Time Inc., American Express Publishing and the National Geographic Society.

CEO: Joe Buckheit

Location: 999 Vanderbilt Beach?Road, Naples

In Naples since: 1998

Employees: about 60

Web site: www.MediaBrains.com

MICROS Systems

Maryland-based MICROS Systems is a global conglomerate that provides information-technology services and software for the retail and hospitality industries in shops such as the Gap and Sharper Image and in hotels around the world. When a server takes an order in a restaurant or a clerk checks-in a guest at a hotel, chances are they're logging the data into a system by MICROS or its subsidiary, Fidelio Technologies Inc. (In 1995, Fidelio acquired a small Collier County company called Executive Technologies that also produced hotel systems.) In 1998, MICROS closed its development division in Munich and moved it to Naples. It is the company's central development office for hotel software. MICROS, traded on NASDAQ, has more than 100 locations with more than 3,000 employees throughout the world. The primary product from Naples is OPERA, a system designed to handle hotel operations from reservations and property management to sales and catering.

Chairman, president and CEO:

Tom Giannopoulos

Naples location: 2640 Golden Gate Parkway, Suite 211, Naples

Collier company acquired in: 1995

Employees: 84

Web site: www.micros.com

Neighborhood America

Remember the television commercial showing cowboys herding hundreds of housecats high-tailing it across the plains? That could have been made for this Naples-based company, which brings together disparate people to work toward a common goal. Using Web-based communications, Neighborhood America has?created a new approach to the town hall meeting concept, providing a forum for stakeholders to exchange input and information on a given project. Most of its "communications management" projects are based in the United States, but people from anywhere in the world can participate 24/7. The company was launched in 1999 by Kim Patrick Kobza, chief executive officer, and David Bankston, chief technical officer. Its clients and projects stretch from the World Trade Center site memorial and the Statue of Liberty in New York to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to Ave Maria University in Collier County. And with a new IBM partnership and additional offices opening in Washington, D.C., and Boston, the Neighborhood is moving up.

President and CEO: Kim Patrick Kobza

Location: 2210 Vanderbilt Beach?Road, Naples

In Naples since: 1999

Employees: About 50

Web site: www.neighborhoodamerica.com

NeoGenomics, Inc.

Information produced by this Fort Myers company often is a matter of life and death. Founded in Naples in 2001 by Dr. Michael Dent, an obstetrician/gynecologist who continues to serve as chairman of the public company, NeoGenomics is a genetics laboratory that specializes in cancers. Doc-tors and hospitals send specimens to the lab, which uses advanced technological equipment and processes with names like Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) for cytogenetic and molecular testing. Scientists there can determine what type of cancer is present, and the company helps oncologists monitor the effectiveness of treatments by seeing if the disease is in remission or continuing to progress. NeoGenomics also conducts amniocentesis testing to detect birth defects, and can identify a person's genetic disposition for certain diseases such as preeclampsia and ovarian cancer. NeoGenomics has formed a partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University, and its infant biotechnology program and moved closer to the university in 2003.

President and Chief Science Officer:

Robert P. Gasparini

Location: 12701 Commonwealth Drive, Suite 9, Fort Myers

In Fort Myers since: 2003

Employees: 12

Web site: www.NeoGenomics.org

New Vision Consulting, Inc.

It doesn't take much for a company's computer network to be invaded. One visit to the wrong Web site and spyware can start transmitting information without anyone the wiser. Next thing you know, you're dealing with identity theft. But many companies don't have the know-how to deal with technological enemies. New Vision Consulting is filling that niche. Launched in Bonita Springs in 1992, it later moved to Naples and has been under the current ownership for the past five years. Serving Southwest Florida companies ranging in size from roughly 25 to 200 employees as well as law enforcement agencies, it offers network and data security consulting and services. New Vision provides network installation and support, "patch management" for upgrades, intrusion detection and prevention systems, secure content Web filtering, and IT-asset management. With partners such as Computer Associates and Check Point, which develop security software, it focuses on protecting a network inside and out, making sure security systems work in concert.

CEO: Jeff Krueger

Location: 851 Fifth Ave. N., Naples

In Naples since: 2000

Employees: six

Web site: www.newvision-inc.com

Robotic Workspace Technologies

Robotic Workspace Technologies, Inc., seems to be better known in the rest of the world than in its Southwest Florida home. The small company near Fort Myers Beach writes software that runs PC-control systems for robotics. Customers include Lockheed Martin Corp., Martin Marietta, General Dynamics, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Ford Motor Company and Johnson Controls. RWT makes the software that powers robotics used to build cars, load pallets from assembly lines, and perform laser-cutting and welding functions. The company took a hit in the wake of 9/11, closing several offices, but it is growing again. Last year it acquired Innova Holdings, of which RWT is now a wholly owned subsidiary. Corporate headquarters for both companies are in Fort Myers, where software development takes place. Integrating the software with robotics is done by contract workers in a Detroit office. Company founder Walter Weisel recently launched another Innova subsidiary called Service Robots Incorporated, which will focus on such personal services as elder care. Robots that move around and have voice input and output capabilities will provide certain assisted-living functions. The new company also will develop robotics with military applications, such as searching crash sites, or suspicious cars for bombs.

CEO and Chairman: Walter Weisel

Location: San Carlos Boulevard,

Fort Myers Beach

In Fort Myers since: 1994

Employees: six

Web site: www.RWT.com

SmartDisk Corp.

Tucked away in Fort Myers' Gateway development is a little powerhouse of a company that produces high-tech gizmos for storing digital photos, music and data files. SmartDisk makes and markets portable hard drives that you can plug into your computer to backup files or transfer them to your laptop or another device. Products range from the pocket-sized FireFly, which can hold thousands of MP3s, photos or videos, to the FlashTrax, a handheld device with up to 80 GB that can hold your digital photos or video, which can be viewed on a small screen. SmartDisk was founded in 1997 in Naples before relocating its corporate headquarters and warehouse in Fort Myers. With additional operations in Europe and Japan, the company is traded on the Pink Sheets.

President and CEO: Michael S. Battaglia

Location: 12780 Westlinks Drive,

Fort Myers

In Fort Myers since: 2003

Employees: 21 in Fort Myers; 31 total

Web site: www.smartdisk.com

Source Interlink

Source Interlink Companies makes waiting in line at the grocery store more entertaining for customers-and more profitable for vendors. Helping stores decide what items to position near cash registers and helping publishers figure out what to put on their magazine covers are a few of the many services provided by the international company headquartered in Bonita Springs. It handles a broad spectrum of marketing, publishing and retail-consulting functions, from building and supplying wooden display racks to helping retailers decide what to place on them. Through its Web-based information system, it provides marketing research to clients, and it's a major distributor of magazines internationally. A recent merger builds on that foundation, adding CDs, DVDs and videogames to its distribution arm. Traded on NASDAQ, Source Interlink has 17 locations throughout the United States, Canada and England.

Chairman and CEO: Leslie Flegel

Location: 27500 Riverview Center Blvd., Bonita Springs

In Bonita Springs since: 2002

Employees: 300 local; 2500 total

Web site: www.sourceinterlink.com

T3 Communications

Chief executive officer Stephen Ward describes his business in terms of a water main: As pipes branch off the main and more users turn on their water, pressure drops. Similarly, those who use mainstream high-speed Internet providers are sharing with other users, so when a lot of people are tapping in at the same time, speed and efficiency drops. T3 Communications' bandwidth, however, comes directly from the source. The second-tier network access point (NAP) in Fort Myers hooks directly to a tier-one NAP-one of only five in the country-in Miami. So users don't feel the same effects of sharing, or "aggregation," as they might with, say, Road Runner or Comcast. And customers also have a choice of Internet carriers, such as Qwest or Expedient. Economic developers hail the locally owned and operated business as providing the kind of technological infrastructure that makes the region more attractive to other technology-related businesses. T3 also is a collocation facility, guaranteeing 100 percent uptime in terms of power and Internet service, providing extra security and dependability to ISPs-who sell access to their customers-and others who locate within the facility.

CEO: Stephen Ward

Location: 2401 First St., Fort Myers

In Fort Myers since: 2003

Employees: 25

Web site: www.T3com.com