The number of enterprise network-oriented start-ups has been dwindling, though storage is one segment of the industry where plenty of newcomers have popped up and continue to emerge. Some have been snapped up by larger companies such as CA and EMC over the past year, and a few have even dared to go public, while others are still going it alone as they focus on areas such as wide-area file services, data deduplication, security, change management and virtual tape.

Here are six storage companies to watch:

Company: Abrevity

Founded: January 2003

Based: Cupertino, Calif.

Primary business: FileData Classifier and Analyzer intelligent information management software.

Why it is worth watching: Software and appliances that can be used to identify, classify and manage unstructured data - files, Excel spreadsheets and PDFs - are increasingly being deployed by customers interested in regulatory compliance, and archiving and retrieving their data. Arkivio, Kazeon, Njini, Scentric and StoredIQ are some of the companies in this field.

How the company got its start: The founders were looking to solve information management issues they had seen in their previous professional lives at global file system company Acirro.

Funding: Privately funded.

CEO: Richard Preston, formerly of PricewaterhouseCoopers

Who's using the products: BD Biosciences, Cox Communications and Stanford University.

How the company got its name: The founders wanted a name that would put it at the top of alphabetical lists.

Company: Data Domain

Founded: October 2001

Based: Santa Clara

Primary business: Selling DD400 Enterprise Series data deduplication and compression appliances.

Why it is worth watching: A big move is underway in businesses to back up data to disk rather than tape. . . . Data Domain's appliance compresses and deduplicates the data - it identifies the unique data elements that need to be stored, migrated or managed.

How the company got its start: The founders got together to determine how to use disk for data protection.

Funding: $41 million from Greylock, New Enterprise Associates and Sutter Hill Ventures.

CEO: Frank Slootman, formerly of Borland Software

Who's using the product: Children's Hospital Boston, Documentum, EFI and Quicken Loans.

How the company got its name: It wanted to come up with a name that showed where data lived.

Whitepapers

• Symantec State of the Data Center Report
• Gene Kim's Practical Steps to Mitigate Virtualization Security Risks
• Monitoring and Managing App Performance
• Monitoring and Managing VoIP
• SNMP Monitoring: One Critical Component to Network Management
• SNMP Monitoring: One Critical Component to Network Management

View more DATA CENTER whitepapers

Webcasts

• Managing the End User Experience-A Real World Example of Success
• Best Practices for Deploying WAN Optimization for Disaster Recovery
• Tips and Techniques for Remote Data Backup and Delivery
• WAN Optimization Landscape
• Oracle Database 11g: Advances in Compression, Real Application Testing and Data Guard
• Solutions to the Toughest IT Challenges in Remote Offices

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Special Reports

• Data Centers: At the center of the action
• Executive Guide: Data Center Decisions
• Get More From Your WAN
• Executive Guide: Storage Heats Up
• Network World Executive Guide: Perfecting Application Performance Management

View more DATA CENTER special reports