By Kim Hart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 1, 2007

After keeping a low profile for about six years, MicroStrategy has started to come out of its shell.

The McLean data-mining company last week released solid fourth-quarter earnings, showing revenue growth for the fourth consecutive year.

Also last week, the company hosted its annual MicroStrategy World conference in Las Vegas, which drew more than 1,000 customers and software professionals. And it released a new product called "dashboards," which display information through animated graphics.

MicroStrategy experienced a 20 percent increase in revenue during the fall quarter and a 19 percent jump in profits, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sanju K. Bansal, MicroStrategy's chief operating officer and vice chairman of the board, said the healthy numbers reflect the high demand for business intelligence software, which helps companies sift through huge sets of data to find crucial nuggets of information.

For example, home improvement giant Lowe's uses MicroStrategy's software to answer more than 150,000 business questions each week and 30 full-time staffers dedicated to analyzing data. Other clients include American Express, Chevron, Estee Lauder, Comcast and Campbell's Soup.

"I think it's indicative of where many large companies are headed," Sanju said.

MicroStrategy has maintained a strong presence in the local technology scene. Since its stock took a big hit when the tech bubble burst, it has hunkered down and focused on strengthening its business products, Bansal said.

The company's continued growth since has triggered several third-party consultants to enter the market.

Such companies, including Reston-based Claraview, sell and implement software from MicroStrategy and its competitors.

Sid Banerjee, one of the original members of the MicroStrategy team and chief executive of Claraview, said MicroStrategy is growing much more quickly than its competitors.

"MicroStrategy has done a good job running much higher profit margin than competitors," he said. "That makes a big difference in our ability to market the product."

When D.P Venkatesh came to Northern Virginia after working in Hong Kong in 2000, he realized how much Americans' cellphone use lagged behind that of people in Asia and Europe. He started his company, mPortal, to help mobile providers distribute content to cellphones, but built his business in India, where people were already more reliant on wireless devices.

Now he thinks the U.S. market is mature enough to expand the company's presence. Starting with 40 employees in 2000, mPortal now employs 100 people worldwide and this week moved into a larger office in McLean to hold the 15 to 20 people he plans to hire this year.

The firm has signed deals with Disney Mobile, Mobile ESPN, TV Guide, Verizon Wireless and AOL. Venkatesh sees more domestic companies jumping on the mobile bandwagon in the next two years.

"Nontraditional telecom companies are entering the market and looking for help launching mobile content," he said. "We haven't really changed our focus, but our time has come, because the market is shifting."

Cable providers, such as Cox Communications and Comcast, as well as media companies are boosting their mobile offerings -- nearly doubling mPortal's customer base, he said.

"During the first three years, the markets were down, and it was tough finding business," he said. "In the last three years, we've seen tremendous growth in wireless."

Have news about Fairfax business? Contact Kim Hart at 703-383-5120 orhartk@washpost.com.