As solution providers position themselves to ride the next wave of IT opportunities, they are building their businesses around new models as well as new technologies, such as virtualization, cloud computing, data center and mobility. Whether these next-generation solution providers play to a particular niche or span a variety of technical disciplines, they hone their skills to match anticipated customer needs. Many have alliances with companies such as IBM, HP and even Dell, a company that only five years ago launched its channel program. With other vendor partnerships, such as Amazon, Google and Verizon, also in the mix, these solution providers are set to take the channel by storm.

Here we present Part 1 of CRN's Next-Gen 250 list, representing a sampling of the solution providers that made this year's list. For more, see Part 2 of our list.