multiMEDIA, Interactive Business
Net’s magazine, publishes the rankings of the biggest German-speaking
multi-media service providers every year. This year saw a major shift in
the rankings. With a turnover of DEM 55 million, Siemens Business Services, Advanced
Services and Media headed the list.
The Siemens subsidiary earned twice as much as its nearest rival, the
Cologne company, Prokoda AG. Companies whose turnovers were down, but
remained in the top ten, were M.I.T. (Moderne Informations Technologie
GmbH) and Neurotec.
This information comes from the multimedia list compiled by the editors at
multiMEDIA. They investigated 1750 active service providers in the area of
interactive online and offline media in Germany and Austria.
The year before, Siemens, Advanced Services and Media was in the start-up
phase. 1998 was able to show the full results and once it was out of the
starting blocks, the Siemens subsidiary shot into the lead.
The CBT software house Prokoda was second, Bertelsmann subsidiary EPS and
Pixelpark Multimedia came third and fourth respectively. The order of the
remaining contenders in the top ten was: 5) M.I.T., 6) infoMedia Software
Publishing GmbH, 7) Advesco System-Leaning GmbH, 8) Neurotec +Chips at
Work, 9) Concept!GmbH, 10) Interactive Networx GmbH and TC Studios.
The same source, Interactive Business Net, also ranks locations for
multi-media activity on the basis of the same 1750 companies. The
German-speaking Laender or states are rated on sales per head, growth and
gross sales.
The resulting order is Bavaria first, Hesse second, Baden Wuerttemberg
third, North-Rhine Westphalia fourth, Hamburg fifth, Switzerland sixth,
Austria seventh and Berlin eighth. Saxony and Lower Saxony are in places
ninth and tenth respectively.
In computer ownership, Germany comes 9th, percentage-wise, after the US, Switzerland, the
Scandinavian countries the Netherlands and Britain, but before Belgium,
France, Japan, Italy and Spain.