Past winners: Where are they now?

1991: MICROSOFT

During the 1990s, the little Redmond-based software company was the premier growth company not just in the Northwest but in the country.

1992: MICROSOFT

The software maker still ranks as one of the richest and most successful companies of all time. But with its stock in the doldrums and facing new competition from Google, Linux and others, Microsoft can't be satisfied with clipping its Vista and Office coupons. That's why it's spending its cash hoard on everything from the Xbox gaming platform to the Zune music player, from online-ad agency aQuantive to tabletop computer Surface.

1993: WHOLESOME & HEARTY FOODS

The Portland maker of Gardenburgers, which renamed itself after its main product in 1997, rode a wave of interest in meatless products and healthful living but ultimately couldn't compete against deep-pocketed food giants. The company was delisted in 2001, moved its headquarters to Irvine, Calif., in 2003, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005 and emerged last year — under its original name — as a privately held company.

1994: MICRON TECHNOLOGY

The first (and, so far, only) Idaho company to top the Northwest 100, semiconductor maker Micron was initially backed by potato king J.R. Simplot.

1995: MICRON TECHNOLOGY

The second repeat winner. Micron has worked hard to diversify beyond its core product, dynamic random-access memory chips; demand and pricing for DRAM chips has been extremely volatile. About half the company's revenue now comes from specialty memory and flash memory chips and image sensors.

1996: OLYMPIC CASCADE FINANCIAL

The parent of Seattle brokerage National Securities has had rough going since moving its headquarters to Chicago in 1998. Renamed National Holdings last year, the company has had several run-ins with federal and industry regulators; its stock was delisted in 2004 and now trades on the OTC Bulletin Board. In addition, its former CEO has accused its current CEO of fraud; the two are in NASD arbitration.

1997: RADISYS

The Hillsboro, Ore., company, which makes media servers, communications-networking equipment and other computer products, managed to weather the tech wreck earlier this decade. Sales were up 12.4 percent last year compared with 2005, but RadiSys posted a $13 million loss, due mainly to accounting charges connected with its acquisition of media-server maker Convedia.

1998: LABOR READY

The Tacoma provider of temporary manual labor struggled during the recession but has thrived during the current expansion. Labor Ready bought light-industrial temp agency Spartan Staffing in 2004 and CLP Resources, a provider of construction labor, in 2005; under all its brands the company now has more than 900 offices in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

1999: LITHIA MOTORS

From its home in Medford, Ore., this auto retailer has continued vacuuming up dealerships across the West and Midwest, though not as aggressively as it used to. Lithia now has 108 stores, representing 194 franchises, in 15 states, and grossed nearly $3.2 billion last year.

2000: ADVANCED DIGITAL INFORMATION CORP.

The Redmond data-storage company, universally known as ADIC, got a sweet reward for surviving the post-2000 technology meltdown: Last year it was bought by San Jose, Calif.-based Quantum for $770 million.

2001: METRO ONE TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Another case of a Northwest 100 winner falling on hard times. The collapse of the telecom bubble hammered this Beaverton, Ore., provider of directory-assistance services; most of its major customers have taken their business elsewhere, and Metro One has reported 16 straight quarterly losses. It hopes to raise $10 million in a preferred-stock offering this summer.

2002: FLIR SYSTEMS

This Portland company has succeeded by mastering a single technology — infrared imaging — and finding more and more applications for it, from night-vision cameras to home-inspection devices.

2003: FLIR SYSTEMS

The NW100's third repeat winner, though with a metaphorical asterisk: Earlier this year, Flir acknowledged that some of its stock options likely had been improperly dated, and said it would restate a decade's worth of financial reports and take a $14 million noncash charge to account for the suspect options.

2004: BARRETT BUSINESS SERVICES

Several years ago, this temporary-help company expanded into outsourced human-resource management, largely as a response to high workers' comp costs in California. Last year, that "sideline" business accounted for more than half of Barrett's gross revenues.

2005: PW EAGLE

The Eugene, Ore., plastic-pipe maker built itself into a national presence through acquisitions, which came in handy when hurricanes Katrina and Rita squeezed plastic resin supplies. But pressure from activist hedge funds ultimately would lead to the company's pending sale.