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Universal Mind Makes Inc. Magazine's 26th Annual List Of America's 500 Fastest Growing Private CompaniesWESTFIELD, Mass. --(Business Wire)-- Universal Mind, a leading developer of rich Internet and Web 2.0 applications, today announced it's been named to Inc. Magazine's annual ranking of America's 500 fastest growing-private companies. A major factor in Universal Mind's success, states Todd Cieplinski, CEO, was the company's early recognition of, and investment in, Web 2.0 technologies. This year marks the 26 anniversary of the "Inc. 500," which each year ranks privately held companies on revenue growth over the previous three years. To qualify, companies must be U.S.-based, privately held. Universal Mind is now a part of an exclusive club, which has served as a benchmark of excellence for 26 years. Coming in at number 209 on the 2006 list, Universal Mind had three-year revenue growth of 872% percent and 2006 revenues of $3.5 million. The list has a history of identifying future industry superstars- such as Bill Gates of Microsoft and Larry Ellison of Oracle, and companies ranging from Domino's Pizza and Timberland all first gained renown as members of the Inc. 500 - long before they became household names. With accelerated growth, Universal Mind recently moved its headquarters into 1500 square feet of office space in downtown Westfield, Massachusetts. Further evidence of success is the fact the company has grown to 12 employees as demand for its services has taken off, especially among large corporate enterprises. Clients include, AOL, Intercontinental Hotels Group, MapQuest, Pfizer, and Time Warner. Universal Mind has forged partnerships with major U.S. and international technology companies. For example, Universal Mind, ESRI and Adobe are collaborating on a new generation of web-enabled GIS applications that leverage the best user experiences and technology from Adobe to bring rich interactive ESRI GIS experiences to every internet Browser. Universal Mind manages projects all over the world using "virtual teams" of consultants. Web 2.0 a Factor "A major factor in Universal Mind's success is how we identified very early on the rise in rich Internet and Web 2.0 applications," says Cieplinski. "These applications allow users to perform compute-intensive tasks on remote objects across a network -- such as manipulating a map or outfitting a car's options and colors. Previously such tasks were impractical, often because it took too long to refresh the computer screen." "In 2004, we basically rolled the dice with the company," Cieplinski says. "We made a huge bet that the Internet and technology would be where it is today and we positioned ourselves for this. We totally changed our business focus. We hired Chief Technology Officer and Web 2.0 expert Tom Link as our third partner. We made investments in the hiring and training of our personnel to be proficient in that technology. We also had to sell our customers that this was going to be the future. It was going to be Web 2.0 before Web 2.0 was even a term that people used." A Dot Com Survival Story As Inc. Editor Jane Berentson notes, this year's Inc. 500 list is the first to include businesses that started up soon after September 11, 2001, as well as many -- like Universal Mind -- that emerged from the dot-com bubble burst. "If you want to find out which companies are going to change the world, look at the Inc. 500," she states. "These are the most innovative, dynamic, fast-growth companies in the nation, the ones coming up with solutions to some of our most intractable ills, creating systems that let us conduct business faster and easier, and manufacturing products we soon discover we can't live without. The Inc. 500 list is Inc. magazine's tribute to American business ingenuity and ambition." About Universal Mind Universal Mind, Inc. is an Enterprise Solutions Integration provider focused on the Adobe suite of products. The core team consists of former Macromedia Professional Services employees, with expertise encompassing Adobe Flex, AIR, Flash, Adobe Connect, ColdFusion & LiveCycle. The company's focus is on developing innovative custom applications to provide visualization of large sets of data in conjunction with geospatial content. Our unique value is the ability to rapidly deliver optimized web solutions to critical problems that demand high levels of competency in Adobe web technologies. For more information, visit www.universalmind.com. All trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. |
