Embotics, the Virtualization Lifecycle Management™ Company, won a coveted Companies-to-Watch Award, one of four separate awards categories that make up the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards, the pre-eminent technology awards program in Canada.

The Companies-to-Watch Award honours early-stage Canadian technology companies in business less than five years. These companies exemplify many of the winning characteristics of Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranked companies, which are judged using a longer track record.

“Companies-to-Watch award winners frequently go on to score high rankings in the Deloitte Fast 50 once they have a five year track record,” said John Ruffolo, national leader, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Group, Deloitte. “Embotics has quickly distinguished itself for its innovative technology and entrepreneurship and this award recognizes its potential as a future leader in the Canadian technology industry.”

Embotics’ CEO, Jay Litkey, credits the accelerating adoption of virtualization across enterprises and, more specifically, the need for virtual machine (VM) management, especially for preventing virtual sprawl, with the company's early stage success. Litkey said, “Without addressing the specific differences between managing physical and virtual servers, companies will have far less control over their virtual machines than their physical ones. Embotics provides a solution that simplifies VM management and effectively automates the controls so that overall IT costs, risks and effort are reduced for our global customer base. This achievement confirms our position as a market leader in the virtualization management industry.”

The majority of Companies-to-Watch winners are potential global leaders in technology sectors that didn’t even exist five years ago. To win the award, companies must display the kind of management expertise and superior technology that mark a successful early-stage company poised for continued growth. To qualify for the Companies-to-Watch Award, candidates must have been operating less than five years and have revenues less than $5 million. They must also be headquartered in Canada and devote a significant portion of their operating revenues to creating proprietary technology and/or intellectual property.