10 Hot Emerging Vendors For December 2010

Ready For Primetime

Step right up and get what may very well be your first look at 10 hot new IT vendors that are exploding onto the scene. Each month CRN profiles 10 new IT vendors that are looking to shake up the industry in various technology segments, from security to cloud computing, from software to hardware.

These startups know the importance of the channel and are looking to align with valued channel partners to get their names and products out.

Take a look and get introduced to 10 vendors that are ready for prime time.

Conformity Inc.

Company: Conformity Inc.
Tech Sector: Software
Key Product: ConformityConnect


The Lowdown: Software-as-a-Service applications can simplify an IT manager's life by leaving the job of running the application to the service provider. But that doesn't eliminate such chores as access management, security maintenance and ensuring regulatory and IT governance requirements are met.

Conformity, founded in September, 2009, is developing a line of on-demand applications for managing SaaS and cloud applications.

Austin, Texas-based Conformity initially developed its SaaS application management platform and added applications for governance and compliance management, for identity management and user provisioning, and for administering SaaS subscriptions and license utilization.

Thinking Phone Networks

Company: Thinking Phone Networks
Tech Sector: Networking
Key Product: ThinkingSuite Services


The Lowdown: With its eye on large enterprise and midmarket customers, Thinking Phone Networks, a hosted unified communications provider, offers a single platform, ThinkingSuite, that combines unified communications capabilities -- from voice and video to mobility and presence -- with analytics (dubbed ThinkingAnalytics) and application integration. That combination is designed to maximize how customers see ROI from their UC deployments. The company, founded in 2005 and based in Cambridge, Mass., took in its first venture capital at the beginning of 2010 -- $1.2 million in equity financing from Boston-based Capstone Partners that was part of a $1.7 million round overall. It has had partner programs for technology alliances, developers and solution providers in place since day one.

SuperLumin Networks

Company: SuperLumin Networks
Tech Sector: Software
Key Product: SuperLumin OEM


The Lowdown: Founded in 2008, SuperLumin Networks is a subsidiary company of, and majority owned by Dayton, Ohio-based STRATACACHE. Its software is based on a SUSE Linux platform, and is managed via a Web administrator or SSH session or, for large cache networks, via a centralized CDN console. SuperLumin can be used as an edge Internet or deeply distributed Intranet accelerator. Basically, SuperLumin providers a next generation high-performance caching proxy software solution and its SuperLumin OEM Edition program is customizable software targeted at Internet appliance builders looking to compete with a proxy solution. The company was founded by a group of veteran engineers from high-tech companies including Novell, Cisco and others.

SimpleGeo

Company: SimpleGeo
Tech Sector: Software/Location-Based Technology
Key Product: SimpleGeo Location Platform


The Lowdown: Location technology is hot, and SimpleGeo, a Boulder, Colo. and San Francisco-based startup is tackling the heavy lifting involved with back-end geo-location infrastructure. SimpleGeo is the reincarnation of a mobile gaming startup called Crashcorp, which was founded by SocialThing founder Matt Galligan and Joe Stump, former chief architect at Digg.

SimpleGeo provides an API toolkit, data library and back-end infrastructure for location-based apps, and has raised about $10 million in venture capital funding. SimpleGeo is still in beta, but a message on its site offers insight into its plans: "This Fall, we're launching kick-ass tools for developers to index, interpret and consume data connected to a location…"

RJMetrics

Company: RJMetrics
Tech Sector: Business Intelligence Software
Key Product: RJMetrics


The Lowdown: RJMetrics offers a hosted business intelligence solution designed for businesses and non-profits that operate database-driven Web sites, according to the company. The Camden, N.J.-based company was founded in 2008 by Robert Moore and Jake Stein, who found that many investment prospects at their former tech-focused private equity and venture capital firm were unable to produce deep analyses or use company data to help them make business decisions.

The RJMetrics solution uses proprietary algorithms to extract data and store it in a PCI-compliant data warehouse, where the data is analyzed and reported back in a more user-friendly format on a hosted dashboard, according to the company.

Marseille Networks

Company: Marseille Networks
Tech Sector: Processors
Key Product: VTV-1200 video processors


The Lowdown: Founded in 2005, Marseille offers processor designs with built-in video compression and networking solutions. Marseille has developed a new fabless semiconductor business model that incorporates Virtual Silicon chip design and a prototyping platform that relies on very close customer collaboration in order to act as a virtual operating system. Its first products are chips designed for cinematic video playback in the 3D/4K HDTV market. The company's digital processing is involved in the development of a wide range of consumer devices including: HDTVs, Blu-ray players, all-in-one PCs, tablets and smartphones.

Xi3

Company: Xi3
Tech Sector: Hardware
Key Product: Xi3 Modular Computer


The Lowdown: Computing devices seem to be getting smaller and smaller, as well as more powerful and advanced, these days, so it should come as no surprise that one company decided to shrink a desktop system into a cube that can fit in the palm of your hand. Xi3 Corp. of Salt Lake City, Utah, recently introduced a sleek-looking new product, the Xi3 Modular Computer, which is about 4 inches wide on each side and requires only 20 Watts to power. The Xi3 Modular Computer comes with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor, either 1 GB or 2 GB of embedded DDR2 RAM, a flash drive with a minimum of 8 GB, and no moving parts. The cube takes a traditional motherboard and splits it into three separate parts and also uses its aluminum case as a heat sink. The base model, which comes with a Linux operating system, is priced at $849. Xi3 will be showing off its modular computer at CES 2011 next month.

Veracode

Company: Veracode
Tech Sector: Security
Key Product: Veracode SecurityReview


The Lowdown: VeraCode, which specializes in application security and independent verification services, addresses a threat landscape that is increasingly targeting software applications, providing static code analysis and scans powered by cloud-based global security intelligence. Its flagship VERAFIED security marks signify that a software provider has taken all necessary measures to eradicate vulnerabilities or is compliant with industry standards.

The company is looking to expand its presence with the launch of a new channel program. While still in its infancy with about 10 partners, the channel program will cater to solution providers, both traditional security resellers and specialized security consultants offering risk management assessments.

TrackVia

Company: TrackVia
Tech Sector: Cloud Computing
Key Product: TrackVia Cloud Database


The Lowdown: TrackVia, founded in 2006, offers a suite of data management and application development products, but taking center stage is its Cloud Database offerings.

And earlier this year, TrackVia unveiled a new cloud application development platform the Denver-based company said gives cloud accessibility to business users without traditional IT know-how. That platform lets users build their own database-driven application in the cloud and, like TrackVia's other Cloud Database offerings, lets users view, analyze and visualize data in the cloud via a host of tools that add insight into data.

Rectiphy

Company: Rectiphy
Tech Sector: Storage
Key Product: ActiveImage Protector


The Lowdown: Rectiphy started out when a couple of programmers, working for a Japanese company, developed a data protection software that worked so well that the customer funded a company to sell it outside of Japan. Murrieta, Calif.-based Rectify was founded on Dec. 31, 2009 to sell the ActiveImage Protector, a software which not only backs up data from servers and desktops, as well as from virtual servers and their hosts, for a single license per physical server.

More importantly, one version of AIP works specifically for Microsoft Hyper-V-based hosts and virtual servers, said CEO David Picco. While this is common in VMware environments, no other product can do so in Hyper-V environments, Picco said.

Check out the complete list of CRN's emerging vendors.