Welcome to the third annual EContent 100 - our list of companies that matter most in the digital content industry.

What a year it has been; no doubt the dismal economy-especially tough on the tech sector-has taken its toll on our industry. And, while its ripples have managed to sink a few ships, in other cases, they've provided opportunities for many interesting acquisitions that likely foreshadow some significant industry trends.

Take DAM players, whose numbers seem to have dwindled perilously close to extinction. In fact, many ECM vendors decided that assets shouldn't be segregated from other content types and gobbled up some of the tastier specimens to enhance their content management offerings. In the mobile market, acquisitions seem to signal the possibility of enterprise mobile content finally becoming a reality. And in the case of our most spectacular collapse of 2003-the divine tragedy-some sectors will be reeling for years, while others found key products ripe for relaunch or integration at fire-sale prices.

EContent's 100 Companies that Matter Most in the Digital Content Industry We are pleased to offer you a special complementary digital edition of our EContent 100 issue. This special edition of our most popular issue of the year highlights the leaders in the digital content industry, as selected by the industry-savvy editors of EContent. Click here to download now!

So our group of contributing editors-Robert J. Boeri, Tony Byrne, Mick O'Leary, Marydee Ojala, David M. Scott, Steve Smith, and Martin White-along with no small help from some Information Today, Inc. editors-Paula Hane, Barbara Quint, and Hugh McKeller-set out to sift through a group of contenders both bolstered and weathered by the year passed. Our selection process is not formulaic. Instead, we rely upon our individual and collective experience in various corners of the econtent landscape along with our exposure to both the visible activities of digital content companies over the year and to the scuttlebutt that customers, consultants, and writers might pass our way. The resulting list, I believe, is worth taking a good look at whether you are seeking a specific solution or simply trying to understand the way the pieces of econtent fit together to produce more effective and efficient business processes over all.