The IT landscape is always shifting and being contoured by external market forces and internal industry initiatives.

New requirements for data management and analysis emerge and, in turn, fresh approaches and technologies are developed. Vendors grow and mature and sometimes outstrip others, while new startups take root.

Against this changing backdrop, each year, DBTA presents a list of 100 companies that matter in data, compelling us to pause and reflect on the market changes taking place.

For example, with Hadoop marking its 10th anniversary in 2016, it is now clear that while it is still in early stages of adoption, it is a technology that is here to stay and is also evolving beyond its initial role as a platform for batch processing to include a large network of interwined open source projects.

Despite its name, it is also apparent that NoSQL database vendors recognize the value in SQL as a bridge from the RDBMSs that have reigned in the IT world for decades. And, all the while, relational and MultiValue database systems—upon which many critical applications have been built—continue to adapt and grow.

With a growing variety of platforms to store and leverage data, there is related movement to overcome data silos with integration and data quality initiatives to enable accurate data to be shared more rapidly among a greater swath of users for better decision making.

Supporting that goal, cloud platforms are emerging to work alongside on-premise approaches, giving companies the leeway to focus more on their market-differentiating characteristics rather than IT.

And, in the wake of this expanded data movement and user access, more sophisticated security techniques are also being advanced to address new threats to enterprise data security and governance.

In all, a lot is changing. This fourth annual DBTA 100 list encompasses a wide array of companies that in myriad ways are addressing market demands with hardware, software, and services.

Some are longstanding companies with well-established offerings that have evolved over time, while others have sprouted up more recently with new approaches as the combined forces of big data, security, cloud, and analytics have made an impact.

In addition, in this issue, we include “View From the Top” articles penned by company executives explaining how their organizations uniquely approach today’s data challenges.

We encourage you to learn more about these companies by visiting their websites. And, to stay on top of the latest news, IT trends, and research, go towww.dbta.com.