The Hill News

As CEOs of two U.S. companies, each with more than 5,000 employees, we know almost every big business success story once started out as a small business success story.

Brocade is just that, starting from four people in 1995 to a $2 billion industry leader with a new campus in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Since 1999, Varian Medical Systems has grown from $600 million to $2.4 billion in annual sales, thanks to innovations that have improved the effectiveness of cancer treatments.

Much of this growth came from within the U.S., where access to cancer treatment is reasonably good. Today, however, Varian’s growth is in international markets, where many countries are underequipped to treat cancer. Likewise, Brocade is seeing dramatic increases in demand around the world for data center solutions which enable virtualization and cloud computing to improve business agility.

The fact is 95 percent of the world’s population lives outsid! e our borders, meaning 95 percent of the world’s markets are there. The ability of U.S. companies to compete globally is now an important factor in enhancing domestic job creation and living standards. Our nation’s growth engines and the small businesses that support them must be able to thrive in this market.

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