But there's a major revolution going on. Companies are shipping more and more apps into the cloud and they are revamping their own data centers to be faster, more efficient, using new forms of databases, building what is known as "private data centers."
The result is a wide-open door for startups offering fresh technology.
With that in mind, we sifted through the buzz to come up with this list of hot companies. They offer interesting technology, or they've attracted big funding, or they have amazing founders ... or they have all of the above.