CEO Tech 100: the Chief Executive's guide to 100 of technology's hottest people, places, and things....

With the ascendance of computers networks, the IT market-research industry has grown from a kind of nerdy niche into a big business. Nowhere is that more apparent than at the Stamford, CT-based GartnerGroup. Founded in 1979, the company has grown into a powerhouse, with more than 1,000 analysts dispensing information and advice to some 11,000 client organizations. Since going public in 1993, the company has been acquiring other research firms, adding the likes of the International Security Association, Dataquest, and Datapro Information Services to its stable. Today, with revenues of more than $511 million, Gartner is the most visible player in the industry. But it is by no means the only one. The list of other notable, fast-growing companies includes:

.001 RESEARCH

JUPITER COMMUNICATIONS - "We're the only technology research firm that focuses exclusively on consumer interactivity," says Adam Schoenfeld, Jupiter vice president and senior analyst. "We do not tell you what network to deploy within your corporation, what software to use for your corporate desktop, or the cost of ownership of PCs." Instead, he says, New York-based Jupiter's clients are companies that want to use the Internet and other new technologies to target consumers.

Jupiter divides its world into several practice areas, including Consumer Content, Digital Commerce, Online Advertising, Web Technology, and Telco & Cable Internet. Major research projects include "The Television Industry and the Internet," "Consumer Internet Economy," and "Online Travel: Five-Year Outlook." Today, of course, the company's knowledge base is the stuff of news, and Jupiter has recently been cited in the media for its reports on consumer trust of on-line information, customer-service shortcomings at Web sites, and the rise of Web portals as news outlets.

Jupiter is privately held, but it's clearly growing, says Schoenfeld. "Our revenues in '94 were on the order of a million dollars, and this year our revenues will be on the order of $20 million. We're not big in terms of the biggest research firms like Gartner, but our growth rate is impressive. We feel there's a compelling proposition in specialization, where we are experts on consumer activity and can provide that focus." - P.H.

.002 RESEARCH

FORRESTER RESEARCH - Founded in 1983 by Chairman, President, and CEO George F. Colony - the "F" is for Forrester - Cambridge, MA-based Forrester Research went public in 1996, and by 1997 revenues had grown from $14.5 million to $40.4 million. To a large extent, Colony and his colleagues have built the business on a reputation for definite and sometimes-contrarian research, with recent forecasts calling for up to $3.2 trillion in Internet commerce by 2003, and the death of HDTV. Describing the company's staff, Colony once pointed out that "we all gave our third-grade teachers a lot of trouble."