The 2016 Data Center 100

Pressures from major trends driving IT - think cloud, mobility, software-defined everything, and the need to control costs - are not only changing how businesses and their users use IT, but are also impacting how the IT world designs, builds, and runs data centers.

As the pace of IT change quickens, finding the right experts to help build and operate data centers is crucial. The list is one place to start. By no means an exhaustive list of partners, it instead looks at representative companies who can be counted on for help with data center infrastructure, tools, virtualization capabilities, services, and design.

2016 marks the sixth year that CRN has compiled the Data Center 100. The idea behind the annual list is to shine a light on the key technology providers that are powering today's data center to give solution providers some guidance when selecting the technologies needed to round out an efficient infrastructure.

Here we present the 2016 Data Center 100 across five categories (the lists will be published throughout the week):

• Infrastructure: The hardware and software on which the data center is built.
• Tools: Software and hardware for monitoring and managing data centers.
• Virtualization: Technologies for virtualizing parts of the data center to turn them into services.
• Services Providers: The cloud, co-location, software, storage, compute, and other resources customers can use in lieu of purchasing their own assets.
• Designers & Builders: Those responsible for ensuring that the right mix of IT, power, and cooling equipment is laid out.

2016 Data Center 100: 20 Designers And Builders
Part one of CRN's Data Center 100 looks at data center designers and builders that are essential to getting data center projects started and making sure they are ready for move-in as expected.

2016 Data Center 100: 20 Data Center Tool Providers
Part two of CRN's Data Center 100 looks at tool providers that provide the keys to making data centers run efficiently and serve both internal and external customers.

2016 Data Center 100: 20 Infrastructure Providers
Part three CRN's 2016 Data Center 100 list looks at companies providing the data center infrastructure that allows operators and their customers to run applications with maximum performance and efficiency.

2016 Data Center 100: 20 Virtualization Vendors
Part four CRN's Data Center 100 looks at the companies using virtualization to cut costs and make their infrastructure more easily managed.

2016 Data Center 100: 20 Data Center Services Providers
Part five of CRN's Data Center 100 looks at third-party providers of data center services including co-location, managed hosting, Web hosting and more.