Staying Ahead Of The Technology Curve

Demand for IT services and expertise continues to grow across all categories of information technology, keeping a lot of solution providers busy. But the most successful solution providers today understand that there's real value to be offered – and money to be made – by developing expertise and services in the leading-edge technologies that are driving today's IT industry.

Cloud computing, the Internet of Things, big data analytics, software-defined networking, containers and advanced cybersecurity—these are the technologies that are altering the IT industry and even redefining how businesses implement and use information technology. And because many businesses rely on their solution providers to help them make the leap to these new technologies, solution providers who develop practices in these next-generation technologies are in demand.

The solution providers on CRN's annual Next Gen 250 list are selected through research, vendor and analyst interviews, and CRN editorial coverage. All of the companies on the nonranked list were founded in 2000 or later. Some are relatively young and were founded with the new technologies in mind while others have been around for a while and developed their next-gen technology skills and services alongside their "traditional" IT offerings. Only 20 percent (50 companies) of this year's NextGen 250 was on last year's list.

The following are snapshots of randomly selected 25 companies on the 2017 Next Gen 250 list.