Ten technology firms are worth watching in 2010 according to the article. These include Google for its business-to-business offerings, Salesforce.com for its cloud solutions, and Microsoft for new products like Windows 7. The article also highlights lesser-known companies doing interesting work in areas like online video platforms, cloud management, and business process management that could see growth.

1. TECHNOLOGY Firms to Watch in 2010
...AND FIVE YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT WILL ALSO BE WORTH WATCHING
Its recent bold move in making available
a low-cost entry-level edition could be Salesforce.com (www.salesforce.com) example in home and building automation
Twent
the catalyst for online video to go from This is a company that is on a bit of a roll. services). The environmental advantages
the YouTube generation to money-making Its software-as-a-service model is proven that can be gained from broader network
y
content category. In the same field, open- and successful and its Force.com platform bandwidth and connectivity are becoming
source outfit Kaltura (www.kaltura.org) is has attracted a lot of support, with many more obvious, with virtual interactions
co m p a worth watching as is, from left field, Flix-
media.tv, helping retailers like John Lewis,
clients achieving tangible value and return
on investment. With the launch of its
leading to reductions in travel. BR
nies
Amazon.com and dabs.com handle content ServiceCloud offering and other cloud Adobe (www.adobe.com)
types like videos, images and reviews. Im- solutions, Salesforce has set its sights The company’s technology, product
to wa pact (www.impact-europe.com), a systems
integrator specialising in business video
on delivering applications that leverage
widespread connectivity and the social
portfolio and focus on experience
and engagement place it well in key
tch
implementations, also has the right look computing phenomena which in our opinion technologies and services that CIOs will be
about it as videoconferencing and other is sensible, timely and innovative. BR looking to support in the next 12 months.
in 20 B2B video applications finally grip. MV
IBM (www.ibm.com)
Also, Adobe has forged strong partnership
relationships and good vertical industry
10 IntraLinks (www.intralinks.com) is one
of those companies you wonder why you
had never heard of. The firm uses the SaaS
model to host workspaces on demand.
A strong all-rounder with a smart
focus on the value of connectivity
between businesses, communities and
governments. The company’s play in the
solution support and its focus on mobile
devices is a wise strategic direction. BR
Microsoft (www.microsoft.com)
Companies in the process of M&A could systems engineering market as a result The launch of Windows 7 and other
employ it as a platform for securely swap- of its acquisition of Telelogic will start server products like Exchange, SharePoint,
ping information, for example. It turns to strengthen with the launch of a more Windows 2008 R2 (with strong focus on
over more than $120m very quietly indeed connected software tooling portfolio. BR virtualisation) along with the release of
until now but is now pushing hard for more the Visual Studio 2010 platform place
publicity – an IPO would help. MV Cisco (www.cisco.com) the company in a very strong position to
IP connectivity and investing in infrastructure address many of the top CIO concerns.
Google (www.google.com/a) is hardly networks is on the ascendant, as is the Microsoft has a number of strong initiatives
a secret but its business-to-business side management capability and leverage that focused on aiding businesses and startups in
has been obscured by the huge success of can be achieved through IP networks (for tough economic times. BR
We meet hundreds of interesting lesser-known vendors every year but we just its search and ads offerings. With Google
don’t have room to write about all of them. Here, with the help of analyst firm Apps picking up a series of customer wins
in 2009, more blue-chips can point to prece- moving workloads to speciality processors, of it turning up surprising discoveries. It
MWD Advisors, are some companies worth keeping an eye on next year dents for leaving Microsoft’s shadow. Next the company offers a clever workaround offers perhaps the friendliest way to do ad
year could see a major breakthrough. MV on IBM licensing, potentially saving cus- hoc BI and customer analytics. MV
rather than focusing solely on end-user edge management’. Authors use the tools tomers literally tens of millions of pounds.
The Judges:
functionality. AA to map out and solidify business processes; Alfresco (www.alfresco.com) is already It will be very interesting to see how IBM BPM company Cordys (www.cordys.com)
Angela Ashenden, principal analyst,
MWD Advisors but rather than being automated at run- well known to open-source types and has handles this challenge. MV is keenly watched for one major reason –
Bola Rotibi, principal analyst, MWD Sonoa Systems (www.sonoasystems.com) time these processes are made available to the giants of the enterprise content man- founder Jan Baan. Having made a big splash
Advisors is one of a clutch of small vendors focusing users as interactive guides. Users can step agement space coming over all defensive. Software as a service continues to be a in ERP with his eponymous company and
Neil Ward-Dutton, research director, on helping companies manage and govern through processes and call up guidance It already has a large user base and con- happy hunting ground for discovering hot then making smart investments in WebEx
MWD Advisors cloud-based services – specifically they pro- documentation, interact with back-end verting that mindshare into real money is companies. Outside of Salesforce.com’s and TopTier, the Dutchman has the golden
Martin Veitch, Editor in Chief, CIO vide a set of offerings that monitor, analyse systems and so on – but the runtime system the challenge for 2010, assuming it doesn’t large shadow, I expect NetSuite (www.net touch. The signs of him pulling it off with
and govern quality-of-service related to is lightweight, non-invasive and designed get picked off by one of said giants. MV suite.com) to continue making progress in Cordys are good. This is a company that
Online communities firm Jive Soft- cloud APIs. This is a critical space, because to keep the user very much in control of the back-office applications of mid-sized takes a very modern software approach to
ware (www.jivesoftware.com) man- application and platform security and reli- their own work environment. NWD There are lots of third-party datacentres firms and Success Factors (www.suc- managing business operations. MV
ages to bridge the gap – both in terms of its ability are key concerns for those looking ready to reduce your server-room admin cess factors.com) to become an even more
technology and its strategy – between the to invest in cloud computing. It recently Original Software (www.origsoft.com) is burden but The Bunker Secure Host- attractive way to run human resources and Few firms bar Red Hat have successfully
many startups in this market and the soft- launched Apigee.com, a SaaS version of a small testing vendor with good technol- ing (www.thebunker.net) stands out by monitor employee performance. MV translated volume of users into profitabil-
ware giants. Its Social Business Suite pro- the technology, as a free taster. NWD ogy and customer reach. Possibly one to using decommissioned military facilities ity but, of today’s open-source generation,
vides a comprehensive set of capabilities, watch out for in the acquisition stakes. BR to protect the critical data of customers. Endeca (www.endeca.com) is fast becom- database firm Ingres (www.ingres.com)
packaged in a solutions-based model that Nimbus Partners (www.nimbuspartners. Makes you feel safer, somehow... See also ing the Google of enterprise search for has a solid chance. With the future of fel-
will enable the company to scale quickly com) is a UK-based specialist vendor in Brightcove (www.brightcove.com) is al- Interxion and Equinix. MV e-commerce sites. The company is much low OSS RDBMS player MySQL shrouded
and effectively. Jive is also unusual among BPM and business transformation pro- ready the 800-pound gorilla in the emerg- beloved by customers as a fast and friendly by the Oracle-Sun pending deal, the time is
smaller collaboration software players in grammes. It doesn’t take the full-on auto- ing market for online video platforms Neon Enterprise Software (www.neone way to release business information, much right for Ingres to step into the light. MV
that it targets buyers on the IT side, as well mation approach that most of the specialist (OVP), the software service layer underly- soft.com) has earned the left-handed com- .co.uk /analysis/
as business leaders, with strong messaging tools vendors do: rather, it offers a capabil- ing the use of digital video for sales, mar- pliment of upsetting IBM this year with its
For more on developing trends and new faces in the technology industry, visit www.cio.co.uk
around hosting, integration and security, ity that you might call ‘actionable knowl- keting, collaboration and communication. radical take on mainframe computing. By
30 CIO UK DECEMBER 2009 www.cio.co.uk www.cio.co.uk CIO UK DECEMBER 2009 31