Operational and analytical IT systems have always needed lots of data. But the wave of artificial intelligence applications and AI agents now being developed and put into production are pushing the demand for data to new levels. CRN’s annual Big Data 100 takes a look at the developers of data analysis tools, database systems, data management software and other technologies in the big data arena that solution providers should be aware of.
Twenty years ago British mathematician and entrepreneur Clive Humby famously coined the phrase “Data is the new oil,” a saying that’s frequently cited to emphasis the importance of big data—and the technology used to manage it—in the business world.
But as AI technology development and adoption sweep through the IT industry and the larger economy, “gold” might be a better metaphor today for data.
AI applications and agents need huge volumes of prepared, governed, AI-ready data, both for training large language models and for operational AI applications and agents.
“Data is the lifeblood of AI. Your output is only as good as the [data] input,” said Karthik Ranganathan, co-founder and CEO of Yugabyte, a next-generation database developer, in an interview with CRN. “If it’s garbage in, it’s garbage out. But if it’s high-quality input, it’s high-quality output.”
The data is certainly there. It’s estimated that 173 zettabytes of digital data were created in 2025—that’s nearly half a zettabyte or about 474 million terabytes every day, according to the DesignRush website. That number is expected to more than triple by 2029 to 527 zettabytes per year, or about 1.44 zettabytes every day.
All this is driving sales of big data products including business intelligence and data analytics tools, database systems, data warehouse and data lakehouse platforms, and tools to collect, manage, integrate, transform and govern data.
The global big data technology market reached $454.0 billion in 2025, according to Fortune Business Insights, and is predicted to grow at a robust CAGR of 13.3 percent to more than $1.41 trillion by 2034.
Federated data management and AI platform tech developer Starburst, for example, has enjoyed rapid growth, reporting in February that it grew nearly 40 percent in 2025 and crossed the $100 million annual recurring revenue threshold, including $20 million in AI-related ARR.
While Starburst’s core platform has been a big part of that growth, the company has been leveraging AI with such offerings as its AIDA (AI Data Assistant) that helps organizations move from static reporting to more context-aware decision-making by helping business users explore and analyze trusted enterprise data.
“That has expanded our total addressable market,” Starburst co-founder and CEO Justin Borgman said in an interview with CRN. While the Starburst data platform is generally sold to data management teams, Borgman said, with AIDA, “we expand by essentially selling into the line of business. Suddenly the value of our platform became clearly recognizable by business users. I think, over time, we’ll see enterprises of all shapes and sizes realize that having direct access to all of your data is valuable.”
And all this is creating opportunities for the VARs, solution providers, strategic service providers, systems integrators, consultants and other channel companies that work with these vendors.
“At this point in time, right now, we’re at the intersection of AI and data,” said Michael Gray, senior vice president of global channels and alliances at Qlik, a leading provider of both data analytics software and a comprehensive portfolio of data integration and data quality management tools.
“We’re really going to invest more than we ever have in terms of making it more rewarding for partners, simpler for them to work with us,” Gray said in an interview with CRN, discussing Qlik’s channel plans for the rest of 2026.
“And that includes enablement of our partners,” he said. “We’re entering this new world of AI, and it’s moving very quickly, and I want to make sure that all of our global partners are activated, enabled and able to go out and help their customers with Qlik solutions.”
With AI spurring the need for high-quality data, big data tech companies have been especially valuable acquisition targets in the last year as major IT vendors look to meet growing demands for AI-ready data for their AI-enabled products.
Salesforce, for example, completed its $8 billion acquisition of data management leader Informatica in November while IBM recently completed its $11 billion purchase of real-time/streaming data technology developer Confluent. And SAP is in the process of buying master data management tech developer Reltio to help customers more effectively manage and prepare data for business analytics and AI tasks.
To help solution providers that operate big data practices—or are considering starting one—CRN provides the Big Data 100, an annual list of leading vendors in the big data space with innovative, forward-thinking products and services that solution providers can offer their customers for managing, utilizing and analyzing big data.
As in prior years, this 14th edition of the Big Data 100 list includes many of the IT industry’s biggest vendors and established suppliers of data management and data analytics platforms and products. But it also includes startups and young companies that are developing breakthrough technologies that solution providers can adopt to provide their customers—and themselves—with a competitive edge.
This year’s Big Data 100 list is made up of six technology categories: data analytics tools, database systems, data warehouse and data lake platforms, data management and integration tools, data observability software, and big data systems and cloud platforms.
Some notes on this year’s list:
Given the nature of the IT industry, identifying which IT vendors belong in which categories can be a challenge.
Some vendors have big data product portfolios that span multiple technology categories. Companies appear in the slideshow for the technology segment in which they are most prominent. Qlik, for example, is included within the data analytics slideshow even though it is also a major player in the data integration and data governance technology space.
Also, the line between data management and data storage (including data protection, resiliency and recovery technology) has blurred in recent years. Some companies that make the 2026 Big Data 100 list could easily be in the CRN 2026 Storage 100, published in April, and vice versa.
Likewise, data management and data governance can overlap with data security and data protection—IT companies in the latter category were highlighted as part of the CRN 2026 Security 100 list that ran in February.
Slide shows for each technology category will be running throughout this week.
The Coolest Data Analytics Companies Of The 2026 Big Data 100
Part 1 of CRN’s 2026 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the business analytics space.
The Coolest Big Data System And Cloud Platform Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 2 of CRN’s 2026 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the big data system and cloud platform space.
The Coolest Data Management And Integration Software Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 3 of CRN’s 2026 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the data management and integration software space.
The Coolest Database System Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 4 of CRN’s 2026 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the database system space.
The Coolest Data Warehouse And Data Lake System Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 5 of CRN’s 2026 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the data warehouse and data lake systems space.
The Coolest Data Observability Companies Of The Big Data 100
Part 6 of CRN’s 2026 Big Data 100 includes a look at the vendors solution providers should know in the data observability space.
