10 Most Influential CEOs of 2009
 

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Who were the men who ruled the technology landscape in 2009? CRN has released a list of 25 Most Influential Executives of 2009. The men who according to it changed the computing landscape with aggressive channel sales expansions, blockbuster acquisitions, breakthrough cloud computing initiatives and strong sales in the midst of the biggest downturn in the economy since the Great Depression.

Mark Hurd, Chairman, CEO and President, Hewlett-Packard
 

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In 2009 HP displaced IBM at the top of the computer product and services sales pyramid under Mark Hurd's leadership. Hurd is now taking direct aim at Cisco Systems' networking business with his ProCurve line and a $2.7 billion acquisition of 3Com.

Cisco in March announced its plans to integrate network devices, servers, and storage utilities into a unified, next-generation data center.

The move creates a turf war within the data center and threatens to devalue established server brands from IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell. Cisco, which in the past has worked closely with server makers such as HP, will now market its own servers and its own software to manage all three unified elements of the data center.

John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems
 

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Cisco's John Chambers has taken the networking giant through every major twist and turn over nearly two decades. Now the networking czar is eyeing to take a bite out of HP's sales with what its calls unified computing systems, which combine servers and networking into one box.

Chambers also aims to make Cisco a key player in the cloud computing space.

Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle
 

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The founder and CEO of Oracle for 32 years has vanquished many competitors. Oracle may not have matched HP or IBM in posting strong sales in 2009. However, the company's acqusition of Sun seems to be a sure Winner.

Second-quarter net income rose 13 percent to $1.46 billion, or 29 cents a share, from $1.3 billion, or 25 cents, a year earlier, Oracle said. Excluding some costs, profit was 39 cents in the period, which ended November 30.

Enrique Salem, President and CEO, Symantec
 

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Few companies can match the gains Symantec made in 2009 in both sales and operations. According to CRN, If Symantec Chairman John W Thompson had the chutzpah to build a bigger Symantec, then President and CEO Enrique Salem had the management hand to pull it all together.

Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft
 

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2009 was one of the toughest years for Microsoft, The company for the first time announced layoffs. However, according to CRN, CEO Steve Ballmer performed admirably in what is by a long shot the toughest job in the technology business.

Ballmer walked a management tight rope driving Microsoft's healthy Windows and Office revenue, while at the same time pushing Microsoft into the cloud with products like Windows Azure and Microsoft's Office Web Apps. Ballmer also kept the pressure going on in the virtualization business with Hyper-V. With the launch of serach engine Bing, the company also upped the ante in its war against Google.

Rob McKernan, Senior Vice President and President North America, APC
 

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According to CRN, APVC's senior VP and president north America, Rob McKernan has put more power and cooling cash into solution provider coffers than any executive in the business.

Sam Palmisano, Chairman and CEO, IBM
 

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There's no other CEO who gave shareholders a better return on investment, in one of the toughest years of the century, then IBM's Sam Palmisano.

IBM shares which started the year with $86.04 a share were hovering around the $120 mark in November.

Paul Maritz, President and CEO, VMware
 

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Only 16 months on the job, Paul Maritz has taken VMware literally into the clouds, write CRN. His vision to make VMware a cloud computing powerhouse has given the company a new vigour.

Also, his partnerships with EMC and networking giant Cisco have the potential to forever change the computing landscape and also spell trouble for Microsoft.

Eugene Kaspersky, CEO, Kaspersky Lab
 

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CEO of Kaspersky Lab Eugene Kaspersky is said to have rewritten the rules of the computer security game. According to CRN, Kaspersky's passion and drive assure that the company has not lost its technical edge even as he has grown it into one of largest privately-held security companies in the world.

Kevin Murai, President and CEO, Synnex
 

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Joining Synnex in March 2008, President and CEO Kevin Murai brings in over 20 years of distribution channel experience from Ingram Micro. According to CRN, Murai has leveraged Synnex's low-cost model and fleet-footed sales force to capture market share in a treacherous market. He is also pushing the company into higher margin areas like managed print services and health care.