Pasadena Software Firm Named to InformationWeek’s “Startup 50”

Pasadena-based Central Desktop, a leading SaaS-based social technology platform for next-generation business teams to interact, share and manage their daily work activities, today announced that it was named to the first annual listing of the InformationWeek Startup 50.

InformationWeek’s Startup 50 is a list of the top 50 business technology startups selected by InformationWeek readers and editors. Companies were selected in a three-step process that involved nomination, online voting, and editorial vetting.

The technologies and the companies behind them were evaluated on the following criteria:

• Innovation and their ability to inject new ways of doing things into business processes
• Value, which is reflected in lower costs, increased sales, higher productivity, or improved customer loyalty
• Enterprise-readiness, meaning that a product or service scales and can be deployed and managed as necessary by IT pros

“We are very excited to be named to the InformationWeek Start-up 50,” said Isaac Garcia, CEO of Central Desktop. “Being recognized by InformationWeek, a leading authority on enterprise technology, validates Central Desktop as a key player in the social technology platform space. Our focus on bringing enterprise-grade functionality without enterprise solution resource requirements is quickly being adopting by mid-market and enterprise organizations.”

According to a recent Web seminar, (Source: Why SaaS Matters Enterprise Webinar, February 25, 2009), the cost of not finding information is an expensive business problem and costs businesses $3300 per employee per year. As the speed of which information is disseminated increases and as businesses adopt social networking and Web 2.0 tools, this cost is expected to rise dramatically.

Beyond the cost savings, Central Desktop is designed to support businesses now and into the future with enterprise-grade security, integration with complimentary applications and a platform built to scale for businesses of any size.

“It was difficult to limit ourselves to 50 startups because there’s a lot of exciting companies out there,” said Andrew Conry-Murray, Business Editor, InformationWeek. “That said, we believe the InformationWeek Startup 50 have innovative solutions to critical business problems and are worthy of enterprise consideration.”

InformationWeek editors and readers identified young companies that are ready to address the critical challenges facing the enterprise. Whether it is securing networks, cutting costs or streamlining IT operations and business processes, the InformationWeek Startup 50 provides IT professionals and executives insight on new and innovative solutions from the named companies.

The full list of the InformationWeek Startup 50: Business Technology Companies to Watch, along with analysis by InformationWeek editors, can be found online here.

About Central Desktop

Central Desktop delivers a pure web-based social technology platform for next-generation business teams to interact, share and manage their daily work activities from anywhere at any time. Built collaboratively over the last three years with direct feedback from its users, the Central Desktop platform provides enterprise-grade functionality without enterprise solution resource requirements. Used by over 260,000 people worldwide, Central Desktop’s customers represent progressive organizations with geographically dispersed teams that are committed to using innovative Web 2.0 tools for business success.

Central Desktop serves organizations in technology, media, marketing & communications, professional services, architecture & design, manufacturing and many others. Its social technology platform consistently delivers a 30 percent increase in productivity while decreasing the total cost of doing business. Key Central Desktop customers include: The Barack Obama Presidential Campaign, Allied Barton, iSoldit, Gymboree, NXTV, Chapters of the Project Management Institute and the California Office of HIPAA Compliance.

Founded in 2005, Central Desktop is a privately-held company located in Pasadena, California. For more information, visit www.centraldesktop.com.