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.