Profits over the past three years were strong enough at two Silver Spring companies to place them among the Inc. 500, a list that singles out the nation's fastest-growing private companies. Silver Spring-based Sonatype and Special Operations Solutions were honored by Montgomery County Council Tuesday for the distinction.

Sonatype, a software support, training and consulting firm, is located at 12501 Prosperity Dr. Special Operations Solutions, an engineering and staffing firm providing support to military partners, is located at 8070 Georgia Ave.

Companies based in Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Rockville also were among the group.