Collanos

Swiss start-ups top in Europe

Swiss start-ups Collanos Software and Axes Systems have qualified for final selection in the 2008 Red Herring 100 Europe. This award is presented each year to the 100 best private technology firms in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa). This year 22 Swiss companies have qualified for the finals.

Axes Systems, specialists in the development and marketing of its core product axpand, the open and automated technology for cartography and geo-information design and Collanos Software, provider of Collanos Workplace and Collanos Phone for electronic collaboration of teams over the internet, have both qualified for the 2008 Red Herring European 100 Award. This award is presented each year to the most innovative private technology companies. In total, 22 Swiss companies have qualified as finalists for this year’s award which will be presented in Malta in mid-April. In 2007 seven Swiss firms and in 2006 six firms were presented with the award.

“This year’s impressive list of submissions from companies demonstrates Europe’s growing role as a major centre of innovation in the global technology sector,” said Red Herring Editor-in-Chief Joel Dreyfuss. “The exceptional accomplishments of European technology start-ups and entrepreneurs are a testament to the rapid advancements being made in building the European innovation ecosystem.”

Peter Helfenstein, CEO of Collanos Software, is pleased. “The number of Swiss companies selected as finalists for the Red Herring European 100, among them Collanos, shows that thanks to Swiss quality engineering, the willingness for collaboration across borders and the excellent institutional support for internationalization, Swiss start-ups are in a great position to prosper in the global market.” Ajay Mathur, CEO of Axes Systems, agrees, "Switzerland is an ideal spot for innovative ideas that can be implemented worldwide. The increase in the number of Red Herring finalists and Axes Systems’ own success story confirms this.”

Red Herring’s editorial staff rigorously evaluated several hundred private companies through a careful analysis of financial data and subjective criteria, including quality of management, execution of strategy, and dedication to research and development.

More information at: http://www.herringevents.com/europe08/index.html

About Axes Systems AG
Axes Systems based in Switzerland is an independent software house which has focused on the development and marketing of its core product axpand. axpand is a modular software application that focuses on cartography functionality and the design and visualization of geographic information. axpand’s high levels of automation save customers time and money by eliminating unnecessary manual intervention and Axes Systems’ state-of-the-art, interactive vector web technology is changing the face of online mapping. Axes Systems enables its customers to produce high-quality map and geographical data products using a mature software application and streamlined processes. Axes Systems is one of the world’s leading providers of technology for the visualization, generalization, automation, editing and design of location-based data. More information about Axes Systems is available on the Internet at www.axes-systems.com.

About Collanos Software
Collanos is a global start-up that focuses on the collaboration needs of teams who demand a secure, cross-platform, server-less solution, on- and off-line. By leveraging open-source technologies, open standards, the familiarity of existing tools, and a global development model, Collanos delivers a friendly, all inclusive team-based solution that combines the benefits of classic client/server, web, and peer-to-peer architectures.

In 2007, Collanos was selected as a candidate for the Emerging Tech Award by Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. Also in 2007 Collanos at CeBIT was awarded with the Innovation Prize ITK for Collanos Workplace and in 2008 for the new Collanos Phone.

Collanos was founded in November 2003 and has offices in San Francisco and Zurich, Switzerland.

The free software can be downloaded from www.collanos.com