Corvalent makes computers, but part of what makes the Cedar Park–based business' computers desirable to its clients would be devastating to Dell or Apple or most other commonly known computer companies. Corvalent's ruggedized, industrial computers are guaranteed to be the same for seven to ten years.

"When our customers design a solution or an application to run a specific software or a specific application, they don't like changes," Corvalent CEO Ed Trevis said.

The industrial computer company came to Cedar Park from Silicon Valley three years ago and has grown quickly since it arrived. Trevis said Corvalent chose Cedar Park over other Central Texas locations because of an economic incentive package the company received from the city.

Corvalent has kept up with its end of the agreement, which rewarded the company for each new employee hired to work at the company's headquarters on Arrow Point Drive.

When it moved to Cedar Park, Corvalent had 20 employees; the company now has 45, and about 15 of the new employees were hired in 2011. Trevis said his industry did suffer at first when the recession hit, but when the U.S. dollar lost value against foreign currencies, it became more appealing for companies to buy American products.

"We're one of the only companies left in the computer industry that produces the majority of their products in the United States, and there's several reasons we do it that way," Trevis said. "One is high quality. Two is consistency and longevity. We're able to maintain the consistency and longevity of the product by controlling it locally. It's not the cheapest, but it's the most reliable."

Trevis said he expects Corvalent will continue its trend of growing by about 35 percent per year, creating computers that do big jobs like operate tanks, CAT-scan machines and even the robot that repaired the underwater oil rig that exploded in July 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We build computers that withstand many years in operation—15 to 20 years running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—running in extreme circumstances, so they have to be very reliable," Trevis said.

Corvalent , 1101 Arrow Point Drive, Ste. 501, Cedar Park, www.corvalent.com