Bit players: fifteen companies that ranked at the top of the state's tech industry in 2001 remain vital forces.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: NC TREND: Look back

North Carolina's tech industry has shown resilience since Business North Carolina published a list of the state's 30 top tech companies in March 2001. It was based on research by the KPMG LLP accounting firm with rankings determined by revenue and employment growth, market value and capital raised over three years. To be sure, only half of the companies are still independent and a few were liquidated. But 15 remain independent and bulwarks of the state's economy. The state's tech sector has continued to grow, making North Carolina a major operating site for large companies based elsewhere, including Cisco Systems Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Time Warner Cable Inc. Since 2001, the state has also become a magnet for data centers for tech giants including Apple, Facebook and Google. The hope for the next 15 years is that newer, homegrown companies, including AvidXchange Inc. of Charlotte, Inmar Inc. of Winston-Salem and nCino Inc. of Wilmington, can burnish North Carolina's reputation as a hotbed for innovation.

Then and now

Lending Tree

Headquarters: Charlotte

CEO: Doug Lebda

Employees: 230 in 2001 322 in 2016

Founded: 1996

SAS Institute

Headquarters: Cary

CEO: Jim Goodnight

Employees: 7,700 in 2001 13,783 in 2016

Founded: 1976

INDEPENDENT AAIPharma Services Corp. Wilmington Cicero Inc. Cary CommScope Inc. Hickory Cree Inc. Durham Farragut Systems Inc. Durham Fairpoint Communications Inc. Charlotte Lending Tree LLC Charlotte PPD Inc. Wilmington Quintiles Transnational Corp. Durham Qorvo Inc...