A quiet holiday week so far in the technology side of the stock market. Most of the action will take place in the retail sector, with both Best Buy and Comp USA opening on Thanksgiving night - - well ahead of Black Friday.

Early holiday shoppers can expect to find computers, digital cameras, and HD TV's at lower prices, as retailers are determined to do what it takes to get people in the door.

Back in the markets, I did run across a report from Gartner Group that touts the application acceleration equipment market. In it, Gartner keeps coming back to a company called Riverbed Technology (Nasdaq: RVBD) that is growing by leaps and bounds on the WAN optimization controller side of the market.

According to Gartner’s market share report, Riverbed demonstrated very strong growth to grab 30.6% of the sector's market share. Says Gartner, this is the fourth quarter in a row that Riverbed has maintained the leadership position in the Advanced WOC category. In the same report, Gartner recognized Riverbed as the market share leader in the WOC category for the 2nd quarter in a row.

According to Eric Wolford, senior vice president, marketing and business development at Riverbed. “Riverbed delivers WDS solutions for the data center, remote office and mobile workers that accelerate the broad set of applications important to business — without sacrificing the security of enterprise data.”

It's not a technology sector that I claim to be too familiar with, but 30% market share is 30% market share. Gartnet touts Riverbed's flagship product; the Steelhead Mobile product, a software client version of its award-winning WDS technology, which was rolled out in August 2007. According to Riverbed's web site, the Steelhead Mobile software client is intended to deliver LAN-like application performance to any employee, whether on the road, working from home or connected wirelessly in the office.

So if you're looking for an up-and-comer in a section of the technology market that few people pay close attention to, Riverbed might be a good bet. Buy it for someone you love for Christmas.