Top 10 tech startups for 2008

There are few clearer bellwethers as to the imminent direction of technology
than where venture capitalists put their money. They're about making money,
so they look for industry patterns they think will lead to sure bets. And that
means they invest where the tech industry has begun to coalesce its thinking,
not on exotic new science fiction. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, VCs
have invested a
total of US$57 billion in startups -- mostly tech ones -- in 2005, 2006,
and 2007.

InfoWorld also tracks tech startups but through a different lens. Our concern
isn't about a financial investment but about real technology innovation -- what
will drive technology forward in ways that could revolutionize some aspect of
business IT? That's why for the third year, we have selected the hottest technology
startups, with the emphasis on "technology." What did we seek? At
least one of three qualities: truly new technologies, innovative approaches
within existing technology areas, and technologies applied in new ways to solve
different problems.

Here are our winners for 2008, in alphabetical order.

_______________

Hot Tech Startup: Aerohive Networks

Founded: 2006

Tech breakthrough: A centrally managed wireless network built around
a controllerless architecture that can scale to thousands of access points.

Business problem addressed: As wireless networking becomes more central
to the enterprise, wireless LANs need to become much faster, more scalable,
and more resilient at a reasonable price point. By incorporating authentication,
access control, and other functions into the access point, Aerohive promises
greater flexibility and lower deployment costs than controller-based wireless
LAN solutions.

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