As part of my job with Microsoft's Emerging Business Team I get to work with lots of innovative start-ups with cool technology. Dan'l Lewin wrote an Always On editorial Checked My List Twice highlighting some of those companies. I encourage you to read the entire article but here is a list of the companies mentioned;
Adesso Systems—Mobile apps for an occasionally connected world. A Red Herring 100. Think "WinFS today." Akimbi—Automates and accelerates the setup and teardown of even the most complex multi-machine software configurations using virtualization technology. Winner at Under the Radar. Akimbo—The first functional marriage of TV and the Internet. "Your wish is on demand." AtHoc—Alerting specialists for warning systems, emergency operations centers, and critical communications. AviCode—Can pinpoint the exact source of any bug in a .NET application in real-time—during production or development. Identifies the exact line of problem source code. BeVocal—Provides hosted self-service voice application solutions for carriers and call centers. Cicero Networks—Voice over Wireless IP that harnesses the power of wi-fi and Bluetooth networks to deliver wireless voice services. Colligo—Instant collaboration for teams in the field: Lets any wireless capable laptop, Pocket PC, or Tablet PC instantly and securely network to one or more computers no matter where you are. Coveo—Specialized enterprise search with superior relevance ranking, document summaries, and integrated security. CXO Systems—Web services-based dashboards that enable a one-touch, comprehensive view of multiple business functions in real time. Digipede—Its "many legs make light work" and turn any combination of servers and desktops into a grid for .NET apps. EchoPass—Offers complete solutions for on-demand call and contact center needs. eSecurity—Security event management and continuous compliance monitoring for IT controls; makes sense out of the deluge of security log data that all the different systems on the network spit out. Exact Target—A SaaS e-mail marketing company with a very slick AJAX interface that has achieved massive scale. Fortify—Kind of like a mega-powerful cereal for your code; it figures out security problems during code development so you don't become the next statistic. Forum Systems—Hardware appliances provide secure transmission and acceleration of XML data. Fractal Edge—Cool visualization technology that lets you maintain and know your place anywhere within the hierarchy as you drill down on data. A Red Herring Top 100 Private Company in Europe, 2005. Grouper—Provides a way for friends and family to share videos and photos online via .NET smart client applications. Friends-only file sharing. IdeaBlade—.NET on Rails. A framework for building service-based applications and distributed clients. IP Commerce—Transaction payment platform and toolsets that enable the IP Payments Framework, a partnership Software as a Service system for incumbent and emerging players involved in electronic payments. Chase Merchant Services, a division of Chase Manhattan Bank, is an initial partner. IDV Solutions—A visualization and geographical mapping solution. Integrates with MapPoint, Visio, and SQL. K2.net—Enterprise scale workflow solution that automates any business process spanning people, divisions, technology, and distance. It has a powerful drag-and-drop design environment. LoyaltyLab—Software service that lets merchants easily manage an online rewards/points system and create custom marketing messages to customers. Newsgator—RSS aggregation from consumer to enterprise, from phone to desktop. Onfolio—Built into the browser, it's a convenient and familiar tool that will help make web research more efficient, thorough, and organized. OutlookSoft—Web-based solution delivers real-time planning, budgeting, forecasting, consolidation, analysis, reporting, score carding, and process management. OSIsoft—Delivers performance management software to the world's leading process manufacturing, life sciences, and utility companies—anywhere real-time operational metrics fuel performance. Oxlo Systems—Lets automotive dealers integrate their systems with auto manufacturers, service providers, and other partners. Rackwise—Focused on automating the manual processes associated with designing, documenting, and tracking changing networks in a datacenter through an on-line subscription service. Skelta—Superior yet affordable workflow technology has let software vendors and enterprises implement workflows rapidly and at significantly reduced costs. 100% web based, multicultural architecture for anywhere, anytime access. Red Herring Top 100 Private Companies in Asia. Tableau—The Visual Spreadsheet, it provides visual reporting and analysis solutions. Workshare—Lets you exchange high-value business documents and be certain the right information—and only the right information—is in your document. Works in-line with Microsoft Office. We work with hundreds of new start-ups developing products on the Microsoft platform. These are a representative sample of the kinds of companies and products we like. If you have a new start-up building innovative products and services on Microsoft platforms we want to help you. Drop me an email (ddodge at microsoft dot com) and I will direct you to the right person.
