World's No. 2 PC maker Dell is America's fifth biggest technology company in revenue. Ranked at No. 33 on the overall list, the company moved one spot up over the last year.

During 2008, the company recorded $61,101 million revenues slightly down (-0.1 per cent) compared to previous year. Company's profits stood at $2,478.0 million down 15.9 per cent from 2007. With market value of $19,412.9 million as of March, the company's assets are worth $26,500 million.

Fortune says that ever since founder Michael Dell returned to the helm of his company in 2007, Dell has launched a series of initiatives to help it compete. But the results of those efforts have been mixed.

During past few months, Dell has announced worldwide job cuts. According to company's Chief Executive Michael Dell, the move will encourage companies to ride out financial turbulence by focusing on hard returns, rethinking businesses and investing.

Dell, which ranks itself as Ireland's largest exporter, largest technology company and second largest company overall, said that it would move production of computer systems for customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to its Polish plant and third-party manufacturing partners.

At no 35 is world's largest software maker Microsoft. The software giant climbed as many as 9 positions over its last year's ranking.

In 2008, the software giant clocked in $60,420 million revenues up 18.2 per cent from previous year. The company's profits amounted to $17,681 million, 25.7 per cent change from 2007.

As of March 2009, the company had a market value of $161,185.9 million and $72,793 million total assets. The year 2008 may be a tough one for Microsoft, with the company's attempt to acquire rival Yahoo failing and Net search leader Google giving it a tough competition in Internet space as well as rolling out online apps to dent its software revenues.

Though the software giant is not left untouched by slowdown, it is among the few companies that have not frozen hiring. CEO Steve Ballmer said that the company will be adding new jobs in the next 18 months to support key areas, including Web search.

Cisco Systems is the America's seventh biggest technology company in terms of revenue size. In the over all list, the company made the biggest ranking jump in 2009 over its previous years ranking. The company stands at 57th position vis-a-vis its 71st position in the previous year.

During 2008, Cisco recorded $39,540 million revenues, up 13.2 per cent from previous years. The company profits stood at $8,052 million up 9.8 per cent from previous year.

The worldwide leader in networking for the Internet has market value of $98,937.4 million. Company total assets are worth $58,734 million. The networking giant Cisco is the among the most cash-rich tech companies with $29.5 billion in hand. The company has been upfront about its plans to use some of this cash to make acquisitions. Cisco has said it plans to be acquisitive during the economic downturn.

Founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University, Cisco's hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create Internet solutions. The company has more than 67,647 employees worldwide.

The world's largest chipmaker Intel stands at no. 61 on the Fortune 500 list. The technology bellwether reported $37,586 million revenues in 2008, down 2 per cent from the previous year. The company's profits were $5,292 million, down 24.1 per cent.

The market value of company as of March end is $85,766 million and total assets are worth $50,715 million. The company's fourth-quarter profit plunged 90 per cent but still managed to meet Wall Street's expectations. The chip maker has been hurt by falling PC sales that have crimped demand for microprocessors.

The California-based company's profits were squeezed by a freeze in IT spending and a shift toward low-margin processors for a class of low-cost laptops called Netbooks. A big reason for the severity of the fourth-quarter drop, though, was a $1 billion writedown of the value of Intel's investment in Internet provider Clearwire Corp.

Recently, the company said that it would close manufacturing plants in Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as its only remaining factory in Silicon Valley, cutting as many as 6,000 jobs.

Next big technology company on the list is Sprint Nextel, a telecommunication company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company is the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with close to 49 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

In 2008, the company clocked revenues of $35,635 million, down 11.2 per cent from previous year. Profits fell $2,796 million. With market value of $11,345.3 million, the company's total assets are worth $58,252.0 million.

In January this year, the company announced that it will cut 8,000 jobs by March 31 as part of a programme to reduce labor costs. The number includes 850 positions which are expected to be eliminated under a voluntary separation plan that started late last year.

Anticipating continued downward pressure on subscriber trends, revenues, and profitability, Sprint Nextel plans to streamline the business in coming months. These include call for job reductions across the company and reduced utilization of outsourced services and contractors.