Three businesses from Virginia and six from Maryland made Business 2.0 magazine’s list of fastest-growing tech companies for 2007.

Companies recognized this year came from a variety of industries including information technology, biotechnology, federal contracting, aerospace and energy. The list, which features 100 companies, is compiled annually; in 2006, three Virginia firms and one Maryland company were named.

The highest-ranked company in Maryland was 26th-ranked Digene of Gaithersburg, a vaccine company sold this week to Dutch firm Qiagen NV. Also on the list were Bethesda-based USEC (42), Bethesda-based CoStar Group (48), Integral Systems of Lanham (62), Lockheed Martin of Bethesda (84), and Columbia-based Micros Systems (85).

Micros Systems was the only company in Maryland to make the list again; the company designs technology solutions for the retail and hospitality industries.

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Vice President of Marketing Louise Casamento said the firm’s biggest areas for growth have been in the fast food industries and independent hotel markets. Recent acquisitions, such as their purchase of the U.K. company RedSky IT in January, have helped the company penetrate existing markets, such as economy hotels, more deeply, Casamento said.

In Virginia, the list recognized ManTech International of Fairfax (45), Dulles-based Orbital Sciences (70) and Fairfax-based Argon ST (81).

“We’re delighted to have moved up in the rankings,” ManTech spokesman Mark Root said; the company ranked 64 in 2006. ManTech has excelled because it focuses on some of the fastest growing segments in the federal market, including high-end defense work and intelligence technology, Root said.

melissa.frederick@dcexaminer.com