Its baseball team is in a pennant race, its football franchise is about to make another run at a championship, and its basketball squad brought home the NBA trophy in June, but there's more to Boston than hardball, pigskin, and hoops. Beantown's technology startups are making their own run at the competition.Boston, of course, was an early center of computer industry innovation, home to Digital Equipment Corp., Data General, Wang, and others along Route 128. EMC is just one of many technology companies still located in the area.

So I went to Boston to meet with up-and-coming technology companies, driving West past Fenway Park to InformationWeek's Framingham office. As you can see for yourself, the area's entrepreneurial heritage is alive and well. Following are short interviews with eight of the companies I met: Bit9, Sonian Networks, Verdasys, Xkoto, Vela Systems, SiteSpect, Virtual Iron, and Kiva Systems.

Silicon Valley may be the center of the universe for startups, but as these companies prove, it's not the only place important work is being done. In May, InformationWeek spent a day with Pittsburgh-area startups. For a recap of that trip, see "Penguins, Pirates, Steelers, And Startups."