The Sunday Times launched its annual Tech Track 100, a considered list of the UK's leading tech firms, yesterday and it contained few surprises. Those holding the top five, with only two exceptions, were solid network infrastructure firms that have carved themselves into speciality niches. Another one is designing speciality chips and another was formed by an ex pop star - it's an interesting game this technology business.

The number one position in the Tech Track 100 list was taken for the first time by a data centre operator, IXEurope, which managed to deliver a staggering 644% growth in revenues since the last annual study. IXEurope is only four years old but with a focus on super-secure hosting suites, it operates seven data centres across Europe and is drawing annual revenues of almost £6 million.

Second place was taken by Fasthosts Internet, a commoditised web hosting service that you can sign up to online. Again, it carved a bit of a niche in a crowded market - represented by surging revenues, up 338% to £4.6 million in 2001.

Third place was Caplin Systems, formed by ex Haysi Fantazee band member Paul Caplin. This is the only firm in the top five that isn't tied into the network infrastructure business in some way - it does services, feeding financial data to large financial institutions primarily. The other two in the top five were Amino, a chip designer, and WIN (Wireless Information Services) which delivers bulk SMS services across wireless networks.

Unsurprisingly, the top 100 list doesn't heavily feature dot com companies but there is one creeping up the list and currently occupying the number ten position. Whereonearth.com is an online venture that delivers what sounds like fairly sophisticated mapping services to sectors like the insurance market and risk assessors. It probably had a bit of a head start however, founded as it was by the first man to produce Trivial Pursuit.

The rest of the Tech Track 100 is an interesting mix heavily dominated by niche, specialist software providers and service providers. Essential Networks, Star Technology, Sourcing Partnerships, Realise, they're all touting services of some kind, to very good effect. Then you have companies like Question Mark, which provides aviation training software, Lost Wax, which touts online auctions, and Mosaic, which has software for online transactions.

One thing that seems clear from the Sunday Times list is that the UK is well aware of the state of the tech industry and it's choosing its gaps very intelligently. From specialist chip design, rather than the headache of manufacturing, to specialist financial systems that nobody too large could ever afford to focus on.