We're highlighting this year's batch of top enterprise tech startups at an interesting time. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, equity investments into venture-backed companies stayed above the $7 billion mark in the first quarter of 2008 -- down only 6 percent from... We’re highlighting this year’s batch of top enterprise tech startups at an interesting time. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, equity investments into venture-backed companies stayed above the $7 billion mark in the first quarter of 2008 — down only 6 percent from last year’s average, a five-year high. Yet we’re heading into an economic downturn, which almost certainly means less money for enterprise startups the rest of this year and beyond. (True, lots of successful startups are self-funded these days, but enterprise plays tend to demand a nice dollop of capital to get off the ground.) How fortunate that “there’s a lot of good stuff in the pipeline,” according to Bill Snyder, the InfoWorld contributing editor who wrote this week’s startups compendium. That’s Bill’s way of saying that he liked what he saw as he and the InfoWorld staff culled 10 noteworthy enterprise technology startups from the 100 or so he considered. As our Tech’s Bottom Line blogger, Bill can seem jaded, but he was very impressed with the level of innovation he saw this year. Most of the 10 have developed solutions for either virtualization or network management. Gone are the days when everyone was taking a whack at enterprise applications or middleware, says Bill, mainly because there has already been an enormous amount of consolidation in those areas. Another trend is the continuing craze for software-as-a-service, where the company that developed the software also delivers it over the Internet through the browser.So have a close look at this year’s batch. At InfoWorld, we find the rampant corporate consolidation of late disturbing; it’s too easy to imagine a handful of huge companies vying to lock you into a towering solution stack. Startups with a good value proposition give you interesting alternatives, most of which demand lower initial investment. We’re proud to serve you the latest crop.And while you’re checking out your options, I urge you to consider this one: Join more than 200,000 other folks and sign our Save Windows XP petition. We’re now less than six weeks away from the June 30 deadline, beyond which Microsoft will no longer sell XP through mainstream channels. Choice is good. So exercise yours and, if we get enough signatures, we may be able to stop Microsoft from eliminating the option to license Windows XP. Technology Industry