No question about it: cloud computing is changing the world. It's the invisible part of your smartphone and tablet, the part that holds your apps and files, and lets you work from anywhere.
IBM estimates that 85% of new software today is being built for the cloud and that one-quarter of the world's apps will be available on the cloud by 2016.
By 2017, enterprises are expected to be spending $235 billion on the cloud, predicts market research firm IHS.
All thanks to many people at tech companies, big and small.
No. 39, AppDynamics' Jyoti Bansal: Intelligence in the cloud
Jyoti Bansal, founder and CEO, AppDynamics
IPO-bound AppDynamics is well-known in an area called “application intelligence.” It helps people figure out how their apps are performing in the cloud or troubleshoot app problems.
Bansal's company is growing like crazy, sources tell us: 140% year over year. That's impressive because he's already doing a sizeable business. At the start of 2013, AppDynamics had about 500 customers. He's raised about $86.5 million from venture investors, too, according to CrunchBase.
No. 38, MuleSoft's Ross Mason: Connecting clouds together
Ross Mason, founder and VP of product strategy, MuleSoft
Mason came up with a solution to a really hard problem for cloud computing. His company, MuleSoft connects different clouds together so that they can share information.
It's been a venture investment darling and not just from VCs like NEA and Lightspeed but from big-name tech companies. In March, Mason raised another a $50 million, bringing the total to $131 million.
There's so much interest in his company that SAP, Salesforce.com and Cisco have invested, too.
No. 37, VMware's Simone Brunozzi: Luring enterprises away from Amazon
Simone Brunozzi, vCloud Hybrid Service vice president and chief technologist, Hybrid Cloud, VMware
VMware gained a feather in its cloud cap when it hired Simone Brunozzi away from Amazon a couple of weeks ago.
Brunozzi's new title is a mouthful: He's VMware vCloud hybrid service vice president and chief technologist, Hybrid Cloud.
That means he's helping VMware lure enterprises to the cloud.
Brunozzi was known as one of the faces of Amazon's cloud, doing a lot public speaking on Amazon's behalf since 2008. He helped teach the enterprise world what cloud computing was all about.
There were apparently no hard feelings in his move. His old boss, Amazon's Werner Vogels, tweeted a congrats note to him.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider