27: Bridgewater Systems Corp.

Most people don’t realize it, but Bridgewater Systems’s technology touches the lives of roughly 150 million cellphone users in more than 30 countries. The Ottawa-based company lets mobile service providers control access to their networks, see real-time information about how customers are using their services, and control which services they use. Co-founded in 1997 by chief technology officer Russ Freen and Doug Somers, two former Newbridge Networks Corp. execs, the company’s sales have grown at a compound annual rate of 34% since 2004, benefiting from the rise in mobile data usage. Annual revenues were $44.2 million in 2008, clients include giant Verizon Wireless, and high-tech guru Terry Matthews is an investor through his Wesley Clover International Corp. Bridgewater’s shares are down from their December 2007 IPO price of $5.50, yet the stock, which recently traded around $5, boasts a 132.6% one-year total return, the highest gain on the Tech 100. Management’s encouraging 2009 outlook, and a new multi-year contract with an undisclosed major North American customer, helped boost the stock, but so has media coverage around U.S. activist shareholder Eric Rosenfeld, who wants the company put up for sale.

44: Arise Technologies Corp./62: Day4Energy Inc.

Dark clouds hang over the solar-cell industry. Tight credit markets make it much harder for companies to buy the relatively expensive technology, and hamper suppliers from expanding their operations. And the slowing global economy has made electricity from traditional sources more affordable. These factors helped wipe 84% and 76% off the respective market caps of Day4 Energy and Arise Technologies over the past year. But management at these two solar-cell manufacturers also need to take some of the blame. Arise Technologies, based in Waterloo, Ont., is on the hunt for itsthird CEO in just over two years. Bart Tichelman, who took the job in February 2008, unexpectedly left in January, baffling analyst John Safrance at Fraser Mackenzie, who pointed out “the timing of his departure could not be worse” with the uncertainty in the industry. Over at Day4 Energy, based in Burnaby, B.C., Q4 results of $16.6 million in sales missed analysts estimates by 60%. Research firms expected a loss of $1.7 million, but the company was $15.1 million in the red. Brighter days may indeed be ahead, but the companies first must brave some stormy weather.

92: Extenway Solutions Inc.

Stay at a decent hotel and you’ll likely find an interactive TV in your room that offers movies on demand, Internet access, video games and other services. And the name behind that technology probably isn’t Extenway Solutions, based in Baie-D’Urf窠Que. Since launching its products in 2005, Extenway has had limited commercial success—losing $1.7 million on sales of just $100,000 in the last fiscal year—and is well behind market leader LodgeNet Interactive Corp. of Sioux Falls, S.D. Despite those figures, Extenway’s market cap jumped 725% over the past year, the highest increase on the Tech 100. The reason for that could be a recent sale to Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital based in Laval, Que., as well as a recent successful install at Canyon Ranch Miami Beach, a high-end spa-style hotel. As well, Extenway’s partnership with Daclem Solutions, a supplier of telecommunication products to clients in France, paid off in May with a sale to Le Mas Candille Hotel. Penny-stock pickers may also like the company’s executive compensation package: CEO and president John McAllister didn’t draw a salary last year.

95: Optimal Group Inc.

The Optimal Group was an odd mix of businesses until February, when the Montreal-based company completed the sale of most of its credit card payment processing operations. Now it mainly designs and markets toys (including RS Wrex the Dawg, a temperamental robotic dog) and electronic gadgets (such as Cinemin Swivel, a hand-held device that projects video from iPods and iPhones onto a wall) through its WowWee group of companies. While WowWee has a long way to go to become the next Mattel Inc., its Robosapien robot, launched in 2004, has sold morethan five million units around the world. Shareholders hope the refined focus will also bring about profitability. Optimal reported a loss of $111 million in 2008, and its stock price has plunged to about 40¢US from almost US$8 in June 2007, the third-largest market-cap drop on our ranking. So far, though, this year doesn’t look any more promising: sales dropped to US$2.1 million from US$4.9 million year-over-year in the most recent quarter. Management expects revenues will continue to suffer because of thriftier consumers and retailers’ desire to lower inventory.