10 Hot Emerging Vendors For January 2011

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.

Damaka

Company: Damaka
Tech Sector: Networking
Key Product: Amadeo


The Lowdown: Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Richardson, Texas, Damaka's focus is next-gen unified communications and collaboration capabilities for mobile devices. It uses managed, peer-to-peer, Session Initiated Protocol (SIP)-based software and a technology called Sweeping that allows for the seamless transfer of collaboration sessions across laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Among its recent releases are a client for HTC's EVO 4G phone, enabling multi-party video calling over Wi-Fi, 3G, or the 4G network of EVO 4G carrier Sprint. Damaka also now provides interoperability with Microsoft Lync, and also recently released a video conferencing option called Kalisto, which provides an optimized video feed to user devices without the need for more expensive video system investment.

Radian6

Company: Radian6
Tech Sector: Software (Social Media Monitoring)
Key Product: Radian6 Engagement Console


The Lowdown: Radian6 provides a platform that allows companies to monitor their brands in social media. Founded in 2006, Radian6 credo is: Listen, measure and engage.

The Radian6 platform helps companies listen to the social Web, which, in turn, lets them communicate effectively with their customers. After all, companies can't interact with customers in a void: Intelligence about online conversations is critical. What is said about a product's brand, industry, and competitors online is vital information. The Radian6 platform provides not only a listening platform, but also tools -- Radian6's Engagement Console -- to analyze that data.

Zendesk

Company: Zendesk
Tech Sector: Software
Key Product: Zendesk


The Lowdown: San Francisco-based Zendesk, founded in 2007, develops Web-based help desk and customer support applications the company said goes beyond the traditional "trouble ticket" approach to communicating with customers.

Zendesk's software, now used by more than 5,000 companies, helps businesses communicate with customers using multiple channels. "The true voice of the customer is increasingly social," said Maksim Ovsyannikov, Zendesk product management vice president.

Recently Zendesk integrated its software with Twitter, allowing customers to monitor feeds for comments on their products and pull them into Zendesk, and developed links to data generated by Salesforce.com's CRM app.

NuPGA

Company: NuPGA
Tech Sector: Hardware
Key Product: 3D Chips


The Lowdown: Founded in 2009, NuPGA is bent on developing innovative technology for faster, cheaper, and lower-power integrated circuits. The San Jose, Calif.-based company specializes in architecture and implementation of monolithic 3D integrated circuits. And NuPGA uses a partnership credo where it vows to collaborate and form strategic relationship with leading semiconductor companies to help its gear reach the masses.

Kubisys

Company: Kubisys
Tech Sector: Data Center Automation
Key Product: Thin Capture


The Lowdown Kubisys, Pompton Lakes, N.J., was incorporated in 2006 as a developer of technology to help automate and simplify data center mission-critical operations. Kubisys' primary product is its Thin Capture, a 2U appliance which can clone an accurate replica of a Windows or Linux server in only 15 minutes. Then, while the original server remains in production, the new clone can be used for testing upgrades and roll-outs, meeting SOX and PCI-DSS mandated upkeep, evaluating new software, testing new configurations, conducing training and demos in real environments, or providing remote tech support. About 80 percent of the company's U.S. business goes through indirect channels.

OS33

Company: OS33
Tech Sector: Cloud Computing
Key Product: OS33 Cloud Platform


The Lowdown: OS33 came out swinging when the company emerged from stealth mode in November 2010 with a cloud computing platform lets service providers offer hosted cloud computing to their clients. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based startup is aimed at MSPs and its OS33 platform has four components to help MSPs attack the cloud game: Cloud Connecter lets MSPs tap into unlimited cloud resources via OS33's Datacenter Alliance which includes Equinix, SunGard, CoreSite, iLand, Savvis and others; the Cloud Control Panel from which MSPs can deploy servers, provision clients, create users and groups, set their branding, set security and track usage; Application Delivery, which lets MSPs securely deliver Windows- or Web-based apps to nearly any device; and the Webtop GUI, a uniform Web-based interface for end users that the MSP can customize and brand and is accessible anywhere for application.

Duo Security

Company:Duo Security
Tech Sector: Security
Key Product: Due Security Two-Factor Authentication


The Lowdown: The company's name says it all: Duo Security does two-factor authentication. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Duo, however, does it a bit differently. Duo offers authentication as a service to thwart account and data breaches and theft. The company's multi-factor authentication service uses a mobile device as a second factor to make integrations simple and flexible. With a motto like "we aim to frustrate the bad guys, not your users," Duo recognizes that an extra level of security can also be a pain, but it's a necessary one that Duo strives to make as seamless as possible. Duo launched last year after changing its name from Scio Security. Probably the most telling reason Duo targets two-factor authentication can be summed up in a quip from a blog post authored by Duo Security CEO and founder Dug Song who wrote: "Because sometimes it takes a belt and suspenders to keep from getting de-pantsed!"

Rseven Mobile

Company:Rseven Mobile
Tech Sector: Mobility
Key Product: Rseven For Salesforce


The Lowdown: Rseven Mobile remembers what you can't. It's a mobile phone backup service that archives all data recorded by a phone into a Web site. With support for a host of different types of devices, Rseven Mobile, Dublin, Calif., prides itself on mobile syncing.

Rseven Mobile was founded in 2009 and in November 2010 launched Rseven for Salesforce.com, an application launched to Salesforce's AppExchange 2 that logs customer smartphone calls and delivers that information into their Salesforce account. Rseven for Salesforce automatically logs calls in the activity history of the leads and contacts section in Salesforce CRM. Rseven for Salesforce can synchronize leads, contacts and calendar meetings directly between Salesforce and smartphones and works with major smartphones like Google Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Mobile devices.

Wanova

Company: Wanova
Tech Sector: Virtualization
Key Product: Wanova Mirage


The Lowdown: Wanova looks to ease desktop management, support and continuity with its hybrid desktop virtualization software, Wanova Mirage, which centralizes the contents of each desktop in the data center for management and data protection purposes, then distributes execution to the endpoint while also optimizing the transfer of data. Founded in 2008, Wanova says it built Mirage to handle all desktop virtualization environments, with special consideration paid for mobile PCs.

San Jose, Calif.-based Wanova closed out 2010 with the launch of a partner program around Wanova Mirage that gives distributors, resellers and MSPs a new desktop management tool.

Tremont Electric

Company:Tremont Electric
Tech Sector: Mobility/Power
Key Product: nPower Peg


The Lowdown:Tremont Electric launched the nPower Peg at CES 2011 in Las Vegas last week, a device the Cleveland-based company calls the world's first passive kinetic energy charge for handheld electronic devices. While a bit consumer-focused at the time, a device like the nPower Peg could give a big boost to business users, especially those with a small arsenal of mobile devices. Tremont Electric, founded in 2007, said the cylindrical device captures energy that's generated while a person walks, runs or bikes and stores it for later use.

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