Due to its astounding growth performance of 2,157% between 2003 and 2005, Malaysian software company Xen Business Solutions Sdn Bhd (XenBiz) clinched a winning spot in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2005 program.

The company, a Microsoft certified partner - was ranked 14th in a list that also included three other Malaysian companies in the top 20. XenBiz not only attained the distinction of being the highest-ranking Malaysian company, but was also the highest-ranking software company amongst the 500 technology companies in the program.

The ranking of the winning Tech Fast 500 companies was announced during the Award Ceremony in Hong Kong in December 2005.    Robert Tan, Lead Partner for Technology, Media and Telecommunications of Deloitte Malaysia who presented the Award said,  “We are glad that through this program we are able to help raise the profile of our Malaysian technology companies locally and regionally, as well as provide some well-deserved recognition for their achievements."

"Malaysia continues to have a very strong showing with 28 companies making it to the list, of which 4 are occupying positions in the Top 20. It is indeed heartening to see such achievements, particularly Xen Business, the highest ranked Malaysian company at 14th place." he continued.

XenBiz’s managing director, Hoi Meng Tai added, “This award will certainly spur us to greater heights, as we look to sustaining our growth and profitability. There is huge potential for growth in software development in Malaysia, and in the coming years, we hope to be able to make greater strides to expand the sale of our software solutions to the ASEAN market more aggressively; primarily focusing on Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines  and Sri Lanka."

Hoi also attributed the company’s growth to its partnership with Microsoft. “No doubt our phenomenal growth has been accelerated through our partnership with global vendors like Microsoft. The Microsoft Partner Program offers companies like us technical and business support to help us build better products, enhances our market presence by creating world-wide demand for our products, and drives overall profit and growth," he noted.

Microsoft invests close to RM26 million in partner programs in Malaysia. A recent IDC study reported that for every RM1 that Microsoft earns, close to RM15 is earned by partners.

"Watching our certified partners’ record healthy levels of growth is highly encouraging, and it is more gratifying when these successes are endorsed by global agencies, like Deloitte, and high-profile programs like Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific,” said Peter Tam, ISV and Platform Strategy Manager for Microsoft Malaysia.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific program recognizes fastest-growing technology companies in Asia Pacific by percentage revenue growth over the past three years.  The program covers public and private companies based in Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.   It includes all areas of technology, from Internet to biotechnology, from medical and scientific to computers/hardware.

"The rapid growth of technology companies in this region is demonstrated by the fact that there are winners from eight different locations among the Top 20 this year — Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. There has been a strong emergence from China with three companies in the Top 10, and from Taiwan, where representation has grown considerably from 11 percent in 2004 to 20 percent this year," said Ian Thatcher, Deloitte partner-in-charge, Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Program and Lead Partner TMT, Australia.

Key trends observed in 2005’s Asia Pacific ranking were:

• The three year average revenue growth for the top 500 ranked companies increased from 400 to 518    percent since 2004 and the top five winning companies achieved average revenue growth of a remarkable 14,210 percent over three years.
• The Semiconductor, Components and Electronics and Software sectors, while leading in representation in the ranking, have declined by four percent and 12 percent respectively. 
  Communications/Networking and Internet sectors have increased by three and four percent respectively over 2004.
• Korea and Taiwan have the highest number of companies achieving the 2005 ranking, with representation from Taiwan growing notably from 11 percent in 2004 to 20 percent in 2005.
• The greatest number of Communication/Networking companies are from Korea, followed by China.  In terms of Internet and Biotech/Pharmaceutical companies, Japan contributes the largest number by far (followed by Australia and China). 
• The largest number of Semiconductor, Components and Electronics companies in 2005’s ranking are from Taiwan. 
• India had the largest number of Software companies.

Based on Deloitte’s CEO Survey, Igal Brightman, global managing partner of Deloitte Technology, Media & Telecommunications, noted, "It is clear that CEO confidence in the outlook for the technology sector across Asia Pacific has reached an all time high. The overwhelming message we are getting is that a sound business strategy and strong leadership remain key success factors in the growth of technology companies, but clearly there is an increased shift in the necessity for high quality employees and this remains a high priority operational challenge in the region."

• Thatcher added, "One of the main points to note in the CEO survey is that copyright protection is high on the agenda of today's CEOs, with almost 60 percent of those surveyed addressing the problem upfront by building protection into their product range."
  The Technology Fast 500 CEO Survey in Asia Pacific is compiled and published alongside the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific ranking. Highlights of the 2005 Survey include:
• 90 percent of Asia Pacific CEOs surveyed are either extremely or very confident that their company will sustain its growth over 2006;
• CEOs are focusing much more on people than in previous years;
• CEOs completely rely on and trust in the Internet and IP;
• The rise of the wireless sector is unique to the Asia Pacific;
• The rise of "Chindia" (China and India) was again identified as the biggest threat (22  percent) to growth in the technology sector over the next 12 months;
• The two leading industry sectors highlighted as offering greatest growth potential in 2006 are Wireless and Internet/IP (26 percent and 20 percent, respectively);
• Implementation of more extreme measures to hold copycats at bay is also growing, through the hiring of third-party specialists who advise on intellectual property protection (33 percent), and restricting distribution of products to markets that have a strong reputation of not protecting intellectual property (16 percent)