Our picks for this year's 10 IT security companies to watch offer products and services that involve everything from video surveillance to application whitelisting to malware blocking, and you can view samples of their products in this slideshow. But if there's a common theme among most of these vendors, as with 2007’s top 10, it's that trusted personal relationships forged in universities, business and the military played an essential role in inspiring their founders and convincing employees to join them. And that's not to mention the millions in seed money not just from venture capitalists but also angel investors, and yes, family.