Red Hat (NYSE: RHT). This company was dubbed “mini-Microsoft” because of its dominant position in the Linux market. With a $5 billion market cap, Red Hat touts itself as the most recognized open source brand in the world.
Research In Motion (NYSE: RIMM). RIM has defended its operating system, noting how simple it is. The company says that the beauty of the BlackBerry is its brainy network, which instantly pushes email and syncs calendars and contacts with zero user effort. Mobile computing is the next frontier for this company.
VM Ware (NYSE: VMW). VMware breezed through third-quarter earnings season, thanks to more spending by the U.S. government. The company is one of the biggest forces in virtualization software and is viewed as well-positioned for some post-recession upgrades. Virtualization lets users divide physical hardware into multiple ‘virtual’ chunks and has grown in popularity among users juggling a myriad of operating systems and applications.
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- Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLK): up 46.2% year-to-date; Microsoft 10.7%;
- iShares Dow Jones U.S. Technology (NYSEArca: IYW): up 57% year-to-date; Microsoft 12.3%
- PowerShares Dynamic Technology (NYSEArca: PTM): up 36.7% year-to-date; Red Hat 2.9%;
- iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services (NYSEArca: IYC): up 32.4% year-to-date; Comcast is 2.7%
- First Trust Technology AlphaDEX (NYSEArca: FXL): up 56.6% year-to-date; VMW is 2.1%
- iShares Goldman Sachs Software Index (NYSEArca: IGV): up 40.3% year-to-date, Red Hat is 3%