If there’s one thing we know about technology, it’s that it comes and goes. What was hot 10 years ago isn’t even mentioned today, unless you’re reminiscing about the old days. While we often lament the passing into “legacy” status of our favorite technologies, the editors of SD Times are charged each year with identifying the prized new innovative efforts, as well as recognizing those hoary tools and frameworks that have demonstrated leadership over the years.
To be caught up in the SD Times 100 prize hook, companies must demonstrate that they have been innovative. Did their work advance the state of the art of software development? Along with this innovation is leadership. Did the company show it was an industry leader through a lion’s share of the market, or by contributing more to an open-source project than anyone else? Did it establish leadership through the open exchange of its ideas with others? Finally, there’s the “buzz” factor. Was the work widely discussed and adopted in the industry? Was it considered “must-have” by those in the know? In short, was the company’s work prized by others?
Those are the characteristics that put companies at the top of the tech heap. Like the carnival prize bins, which offer up stuffed animals, rubber toys, miniature space aliens and more, so too is the SD Times 100 divided into categories. For 2015, those categories are ALM and Development Tools; APIs, Libraries and Frameworks; Big Data and Business Intelligence; Database and Database Management; the Cloud; DevOps; QA, Security and Performance; SCM; User Experience; and, of course, Influencers.
This year, the editors chose to eliminate a past category: Mobile. The thinking is that tools for mobile development are really more about the user experience on devices, and as such those companies now fall into that UX category.
Do you agree with the 2015 SD Times 100? Did we overlook any organizations you feel are worthy of inclusion? Did we miss a leader or innovator? Join and follow the conversation on Twitter at #2015sdtimes100.
- ALM & Development Tools 2015
- APIs, Libraries & Frameworks 2015
- Big Data & Business Intelligence 2015
- Database & Database Management 2015
- DevOps 2015
- Influencers 2015
- QA, Security & Performance 2015
- SCM 2015
- The Cloud 2015
- User Experience 2015
