The Even Newer Top Ten

Up, down, up, down... Which is it to be? This list is moving so fast, it's rupturing the Internet! Rending the Fabric of Space/Time! It's the Dance Craze that's Sweeping the Nation!

Well.

We updated it today. We might change it again tomorrow, if other more promising startups show up or the performance of the current contenders drops off. You know the rules, or at least we thought you did.

"Whoa there, buck-o," came the response from an official at one of the companies relegated to the Bit Bucket, who shall remain nameless, to shield him from public scorn. "You didn't tell us you were going to do that. Let me talk to your superior."

Thankfully, we have no superior, so can now present the complete and unexpurgated new list.Since we published the last Top Ten, there has been a reversal in the fortunes of BlueArc Corp. and Scale Eight Inc. The former had been struggling to name customers other than its infamous deal with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (hold the onions!), which was beginning to sound like a stuck record, while the latter was promising a new customer every month.

It turns out, however, BlueArc has been quietly racking 'em up, while Scale Eight has been making a lot of noise over very little hence the switch in places.

Then there's Cereva Networks Inc. We think this company is still alive, but when we prodded it with a stick recently it was hard to tell. This does not meet the minimal criteria for this list. We want startups that are full of energy and prospects – not wired to life-support machines.

Replacing Cereva at No. 10 is Storigen Systems Inc., one of the early movers in next-generation storage caching, a hot ticket with the VCs and an increasingly important technology, according to industry analysts.

Click on any entry below to get the updated skinny on these storage networking go-getters.Table 1: Top Ten Private Storage Networking Companies