CRN’s 2021 Year In Review

From the hottest startups to the coolest products, join CRN as we look at the biggest stories that impacted the channel in 2021.

THE BIGGEST NEWS OF 2021

The 10 Biggest News Stories Of 2021
This year’s list of the 10 biggest news stories is topped by major cybersecurity and ransomware attacks, accelerating industry trends such as as-a-service and cloud marketplaces, and new leadership pursuing new strategies at some of the IT industry’s biggest companies.

THE COOLEST PRODUCTS OF 2021

The 10 Coolest Business Analytics Tools Of 2021
The ability to analyze ever-growing volumes of data – data that’s increasingly scattered across hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud systems – is critical for businesses to remain competitive. Here are 10 business analytics tools that caught our attention in 2021 to help meet those challenges.

The 10 Hottest Smart Home Gadgets Of 2021
CRN’s top picks for smart home gadgets this year include a new ‘future-proof’ smart home hub, an intelligent camera that automatically captures family moments and a device that helps bakers make better starters for sourdough bread.

The 10 Coolest Open-Source Software Tools Of 2021
CRN’s list of the coolest open-source software in 2021 includes tools for developing next-generation applications, adapting applications to a SaaS model, sharing and analyzing data, managing Kubernetes systems and costs, and building and deploying machine learning models.

The 10 Coolest New Phones Of 2021
CRN picks the 10 coolest smartphones of 2021, which includes premium models with adaptive refresh rates, telephoto cameras and even improvements in new form factor types.

The 10 Coolest Cloud Security Tools Of 2021
The 10 coolest cloud security tools to hit the market in 2021 can block reverse shell attempts and cryptomining, help developers spot open S3 buckets, and protect workloads and applications hosted in public clouds.

The 10 Coolest SSD And Flash Storage Products Of 2021
Flash storage continues to mature as vendors including DDN, Infinidat, Pure Storage, and ScaleFlux adopt the latest technologies such as NVMe aimed at either fostering increased performance or increased security.

The 10 Hottest Collaboration Tools Of 2021
From the largest UCaaS and videoconferencing leaders, to the cloud communications newcomers that are making a splash, here are ten of the hottest collaboration tools on the market in 2021.

The 10 Coolest Data Storage Products Of 2021
Storage vendors are looking for ever new ways to help clients store, manage, access, and protect their precious data. CRN looks at 10 new offerings in 2021 that help businesses, and their channel partners, do just that.

The 10 Coolest New Networking Products Of 2021
Fueled by the pandemic and the need for digitalization, businesses are adopting new technologies more rapidly than ever before to address the work-from-home trend, smaller office settings and demand for cloud applications. Here are 10 of the coolest new networking offerings that gained traction in 2021.

The 10 Coolest Wearable Tech Gadgets Of 2021
Our picks for the top wearable devices are from Apple, Bose, Fossil and Oculus this year.

The 10 Coolest IoT Devices And Products Of 2021
CRN looks at some of the coolest IoT devices and products that were released or introduced this year, with solutions ranging from asset tracking to sensor connectivity.

The 10 Coolest Big Data Tools Of 2021
Working with ever-growing volumes of data continues to be a challenge for business and organizations. Here are 10 cool big data tools that caught our attention in 2021.

The 10 Hottest New Cybersecurity Tools And Products Of 2021
The 10 cybersecurity tools and products making an impact deliver everything from ransomware readiness assessments and automated incident investigations to protection for remote workers and small businesses.

THE HOTTEST STARTUPS OF 2021

The 10 Hottest IoT Startups Of 2021
These IoT startups are delivering new offerings for security, sensors and device management, among other critical areas for IT. They are also addressing a variety of industries, from construction and smart buildings to rail freight and process manufacturing.

The 10 Coolest Robotics Startups Of 2021
Makers of robots for 3-D mapping, construction, e-commerce fulfillment and delivery, many of which is available on an as-a-service basis, give a glimpse of what the future holds in store for the fast-growing robotics market.

The 10 Hottest Machine Learning And Data Science Startups In 2021
Businesses looking to bring the rewards of big data analysis to everyday users need ways to prepare and organize data and develop machine learning models for analyzing it. Here’s a look at 10 hot startups developing leading-edge data science and machine learning technologies that help them do that.

The 10 Hottest Cloud Security Startups Of 2021
The 10 hottest cloud security startups include companies finding cloud vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, monitoring managed and unmanaged datastores, and identifying overprivileged users and incorrectly assigned permissions.

The 10 Hottest AI Startups Of 2021
Startups Edifius, Eightfold AI and Orbital Insight are just some of the companies to grab CRN’s attention, as an IDC report puts revenue from the worldwide AI market in 2021 at $341.8 billion, up 15.2 percent year over year.

The 10 Hottest Cybersecurity Startups Of 2021
The 10 hottest cybersecurity startups include companies revealing threats hidden inside APIs, preventing data breaches on SaaS applications, and identifying vulnerabilities and risks in customer infrastructure.

The 10 Hottest Data Storage Startups Of 2021
CRN is highlighting 10 data storage startups that made headlines in the last year with the unveiling of their first storage products aimed at improving data storage, data protection, and/or data migration, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or some hybrid combination.

The Top 10 Hottest Cloud Computing Startup Companies Of 2021
The list includes startups like data catalog software company Alation, cloud application delivery automation company Oatfin and cloud-based material management operating system provider Livegistics.

The 10 Hottest Semiconductor Startup Companies Of 2021
These semiconductor startups are offering novel ways to improve the performance, efficiency, economics and bandwidth of servers and beyond with new takes on CPUs, accelerators and connectivity solutions.

The 10 Hottest DevOps Company Startups Of 2021
Here are 10 DevOps upstarts that were on the market this year, busy aiding the collaboration between developers and operators.

The 10 Hottest Networking Startup Companies Of 2021
With hybrid cloud, edge networking, and SASE top of mind in 2021, here are 10 enterprise networking upstarts that made their mark during a time of rapidly changing networking requirements.