Management technology is an IT staple -- but not a static one. New players are continually emerging to challenge the old guard and provide help for systems and network managers dealing with such issues as virtualization, enhanced user mobility and sophisticated security threats.

In our search for young management companies with innovative technology, we found 10 that stand out for their approach to monitoring and controlling performance, health, connectivity and configuration across devices, systems and applications.

Akorri

Founded: January 2005

Headquarters: Littleton, Mass.

Management: CEO Rich Corley, previously founded storage-network vendor Pirus Networks, which Sun bought in 2002; also served as Nortel’s director of advanced technology.

Funding: $8.5 million in February 2005 from Matrix Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners and BlueStream Ventures; $15 million in April 2006 from Matrix and North Bridge; and $15 million in September 2007 from the original three investors, plus Globespan Capital Partners.

What company offers: BalancePoint software suite collects information about using server and storage resources, and analyzes it to determine how well applications will perform under various conditions.

Why it’s worth watching: "Akori is taking an IT service life-cycle approach to storage. The company really looks at storage in relation to application utilization to drive up more of a service orientation," says Stephen Elliot, a research manager covering enterprise system management at IDC. "The company has a very good vision. It's about the application service and storage utilization -- not about storage as an island."

Where company got its name: From Kauri tree of New Zealand.

Customers: CareGroup Heathcare Systems, Monster.com, Northeastern University and John Hancock are among those listed.