Airfoil named tech agency of the year: The Southfield public relations agency Airfoil Public Relations has been named Technology Agency of the Year by the industry publication The Holmes Report. The Holmes Report, published by industry veteran Paul Holmes, is a monthly newsletter, with a companion Web site and blog, providing competitive insight and intelligence to public relations professionals. The publication conducts an annual nationwide review of public relations agencies, and awards a select few "agency of the year" honors for accomplishments within industry verticals and disciplines. Airfoil was established in 2000, immediately before the technology fallout evidenced itself, and has evolved with the times to enhance the awareness and positioning of both established and start-up technology companies. The year for which the agency is being recognized by The Holmes Report, 2007, was an especially impressive one -- agency fee revenue exceeded $7 million, with 62 percent% of that revenue, or $4.4 million, attributed to the agency’s technology clients, and staffing grew 14 percent to 56. Also during the year, Airfoil hired two vice presidents: Gayle Joseph, who leads the Microsoft accounts; and, Sue Barnes, general manager of Airfoil Silicon Valley, and the agency won more than  25 new accounts, many of which provided the agency new and expanded reach into the tech industry; among these are BroadSoft, Terra-Pass, YouSendIt, Speakeasy and Search Engine Corp. More at www.airfoilpr.com.

Sircon named tech pioneer in insurance: Okemos-based Sircon Corp. won the 2008 second place Vanguards in Insurance Practices award from Insurance Networking News, an insurance industry trade publication, and Celent, a research advisory firm. Around 100 firms were considered for the award. To assemble the Vanguards in Insurance Practices ranking, insurance carriers throughout the United States and Canada ranked the top insurance technology providers across several categories, including integrated systems, platform technology, point solutions, IT services and enterprise technologies. Sircon develops software that automates the relationship between insurance agents, insurance carriers and state insurance regulators. For more information, visit www.sircon.com or call (877) 876-4430.

Syntel named to top 100 IT companies list: Troy-based Syntel Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNT) Monday announced that it had been named one of the Top 100 most influential technology companies according to research by the Aberdeen Group. The report, entitled "The 2008 Aberdeen Report: State of the Market," asked more than 4,500 technology executives about their strategic priorities for the next three to five years and gave them the opportunity to name the technology companies in the hardware, software and services arenas that have had the most influence on their business performance over the past 12 months. Syntel provides IT and business process outsourcing. More at www.syntelinc.com.