Meeting The Data Needs Of The AI World: The 2025 CRN Big Data 100

Operational and analytical IT systems have always needed lots of data. But the wave of artificial intelligence and generative AI systems now being developed are pushing the demand for data to new levels. CRN’s annual Big Data 100 takes a look at the developers of data analysis tools, database systems, data management software and other technologies in the big data arena that solution providers should be aware of.

Data has always been seen as the lifeblood of IT systems, whether for operational systems such as ERP or CRM applications or analytical systems such as business reporting applications and data warehouses.

The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence and generative AI systems, which require huge volumes of high-quality data—often in real time—to be effective, has only underscored the critical importance of data.

Collecting, transforming, preparing, managing, analyzing and sharing data for operational and analytical IT systems has always been a major task—and that’s all the more important now with the rise of AI.

“AI is the new BI,” said Ketan Karkhanis, CEO of data analytics and AI tech developer ThoughtSpot, in an interview with CRN in late 2024. “We’ve got a large number of customers knocking on our door right now. And they want to know, ‘What does the future of AI and analytics look like?’ What people are interested in is driving AI and analytics to drive business outcomes.”

More than 400 million terabytes of digital data are generated every day, according to market researcher Statista, including data created captured, copied and consumed worldwide. By 2028 the total amount of global digital data is forecast to reach 394 zettabytes—up from 149 zettabytes in 2024.

Adding to the data management challenge is the fact that an increasing amount of data—structured, semi-structured and unstructured—is dispersed across many locations in multiple cloud and on-premises systems.

To help solution providers that operate big data practices or are thinking of starting one, CRN provides the Big Data 100, an annual list of vendors in the big data space with innovative, forward-thinking products and services that solution providers can offer their customers for managing, utilizing and analyzing big data.

As in prior years, this 13th edition of the Big Data 100 list includes many of the IT industry’s biggest vendors and established suppliers of data management and business analytics products. But it also includes startups and young companies that are developing breakthrough technologies that solution providers can adopt to provide their customers—and themselves—with a competitive edge.

This year’s Big Data 100 list is made up of six technology categories: data analytics tools, database systems, data warehouse and data lake platforms, data management and integration software, data operations and observability software, and big data systems and cloud platforms.

Note that given the nature of the IT industry, identifying which IT vendors belong in which categories can be a challenge.

Some vendors have big data product portfolios that span multiple technology categories. Companies appear in the slideshow for the technology segment in which they are most prominent. Qlik, for example, is included within the data analytics slideshow even though it is also a major player in the data integration and data governance space.

The line between data management and data storage (including data resiliency and recovery technology) has blurred in recent years. Some companies that make the 2025 Big Data 100 list could easily be in the CRN 2025 Storage 100, published earlier this month, and vice versa.

Likewise, data management and data governance can overlap with data security and data protection—IT companies in the latter category were highlighted as part of the CRN 2025 Security 100 list that ran in February.

Slide shows for each technology category, along with a slide show of the key startup big data vendors across all categories, will be running throughout the week.

The Coolest Data Analytics Companies Of The 2025 Big Data 100
Part 1 of CRN’s Big Data 100 takes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the data analytics and business intelligence space.

The Coolest Database System Companies Of The 2025 Big Data 100
Part 2 of CRN’s Big Data 100 takes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the database systems space.

The Coolest Big Data System And Cloud Platform Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 3 of CRN’s 2024 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the big data system and cloud platform space.

The Coolest Data Warehouse And Data Lake System Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 4 of CRN’s 2024 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the data warehouse and data lake systems space.

The Coolest Data Management And Integration Software Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 5 of CRN’s 2024 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the data management and integration software space.

The Coolest Data Observability Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 6 of CRN’s 2024 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the data observability space.

Stellar Startup Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 7 of CRN’s 2024 Big Data 100 includes a look at the big data vendors solution providers should know that were founded in 2019 or later.