CHICAGO — In a career that has seen its ups and downs, Douglas Colbeth is riding high again.

Once a pioneer in developing Web browsing technology, only to see that market usurped by giant Microsoft Corp., Colbeth is now the chief executive of a Canadian technology company he believes will double revenues next year and keep growing from there.

"It's exciting to see lightning strike twice, or maybe three times," said Colbeth, who once headed Spyglass Inc., the Naperville, Ill., company that launched the first commercial Internet browser.

Colbeth's latest venture, Kinaxis Corp., is a privately held software developer that helps manufacturers track materials to better adjust to changing demand.

"It's not an Internet consumer company with a high profile, so it is not the same ride as Spyglass," Colbeth said. "But it's just as significant."

Colbeth's earlier ride with Spyglass was anything but smooth.

After Microsoft incorporated its own browser into its Windows operating system and gave it away, Spyglass started losing money. But the firm managed to reinvent itself as a software and consulting firm specializing in providing Internet access to digital TV sets, cell phones and other devices. Colbeth sold it in 2000 for $2.4 billion to OpenTV Corp., where the core technology is still in use.

Not long after the sale, Colbeth was selected by a blue-ribbon panel to head a venture capital fund sponsored by the University of Illinois to invest in tech startups in the state. Colbeth found he had walked into a bramble patch of political intrigue and he left the post after four months.

But two years ago the Canadian firm where Colbeth had served as a board member since 2001 tapped him for its chief executive. The software developer, formerly called Webplan and in business since 1984, made grand products, Colbeth said, but few people knew about them. "The Canadians are great at developing software," Colbeth said, "but they're weak at sales and marketing."

The software that captured Colbeth's enthusiasm keeps track of all transactions that occur in a manufacturing operation and lets users ask "what if" questions.

It can predict the consequences, for example, if a plant tries to meet a demand from a customer for delivery of 800 units of product within seven days. Or it can estimate the costs of upgrading a component and stranding existing inventory.

Best of all, Kinaxis software can do these calculations within minutes or seconds, even when dozens or hundreds of people are using the program and asking different questions. "It's like a spreadsheet on steroids," he said.

The software is useful at companies like Teradyne Inc., a Boston-area firm that makes testing equipment for the semiconductor industry.

"Even a tiny change in consumer demand for electronics results in a huge change in demand for us," said Jim Wood, Teradyne materials manager.

When demand for integrated circuits grows, Teradyne's customers build new plants and their need for testing equipment soars. But when the customers aren't expanding, their need for new gear is nil. "This is always a boom/bust industry," Wood said. "We're either making money hand over fist or losing it."

The Kinaxis software enables Teradyne to make multiple plans and projections that help the firm move quickly as demand varies.

Last year Kinaxis had $15 million in revenue, Colbeth said, and this year he expects that will be about $30 million.

For Colbeth, expectation of fabulous growth seems reasonable as manufacturers begin to hit their stride using information technology. "For the last 10 years, enterprises have been planning using historical data. It's like driving while looking through the rearview mirror," he said. "Now, using fresh data, they can drive looking straight ahead."

Web pioneer heads new firm