Are you watching these 17 companies?

Our sister publication, FCW, recently came out with a list of 17 companies to watch in the federal market.

They’ve focused on technologies in areas such as data center technology, data management, cloud computing, mobile technology, enterprise software, and IT security.

One of the things I find interesting about the list is how heavy it is with what I’ll call Silicon Valley tech companies such as Splunk, FireEye, Nutanix, MongoDB and AlienVault.

The federal government isn’t the largest customer for these companies, but they do see it as a potentially large market. They also need help navigating this market, so they all are creating partnerships and alliances with traditional government contractors.

The other side of that trend is that government buyers have become increasingly receptive to commercial technologies, particularly those that can be implemented as an out-of-the-box solution.

It’s a great trend to watch.

Here are FCW’s 17 companies to watch by tech category:

Data center technology

• Nutanix
• Big Switch Networks

Data management

• MongoDB
• Splunk
• Talend

Cloud computing

• Acquia
• CloudBees
• Docker

Mobile technology

• Digital Management Inc.
• NC4

Enterprise software

• Delphix
• Economic Systems
• NuCivic

IT security

• AlienVault
• FireEye
• Route1
• Vaultive