Savvis (Nasdaq: SVVS) CEO Jim Ousley keeps a close eye on the technology field. He maintains a watchlist to monitor the competitive landscape, but also for personal reasons -- roughly half of his investment portfolio is made up of tech stocks. With more than 35 years' experience leading global technology companies, "At least I should have a decent understanding of the field," jokes Ousley, who chatted with me this morning.

Data center Savvis boasts a $1.45 billion market cap and provides IT services for midsized to large clients such as Hallmark and Discovery. The company is increasingly focused on cloud computing, although it has offered such services since before they were hot industry buzzwords. "Today, we all talk about the cloud and virtualization. Back when we started, it was simply known as utility computing."

Today, he sees the companies that can offer efficient IT outsourcing as outstanding investing opportunities. "Coming out of the recession, companies haven't built up their IT staffs," Ousley says. That makes Savvis and its competitors poised to profit, and that's why the industry makes up a large chunk of his watchlist. (For your convenience, you can now create your own version at MyWatchlist.com, your free customized hub to follow the performance and Fool coverage of the companies you care about.)

Terremark Worldwide (Nasdaq: TMRK) is at the top of Ousley's watchlist, both professionally and personally. The company has a similar model to Savvis and enjoys a successful and growing business. Boosted by an ability to hold on to its clients, Terremark's stock has gained 90% on the year.

Similarly, Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX) has ridden the wave of interest in cloud computing, climbing in both share price and position on Ousley's watchlist. He appreciates the company's very repeatable business model -- it tends to rack up loads of small-business clients and then goes all out to build loyalty. "It's an attractive company in an attractive space," Ousley says.

He's also watching Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), which he believes has a realistic shot of eventually earning as much from its cloud computing offerings as it does in the retail space. At the moment, it's not exactly possible to split out the two businesses, so an investment in Amazon's potential as a vendor of IT services is intertwined with its position as the world's largest marketplace. But he's watching.

Moving up the value chain, Ousley has his eye on two technology giants: IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Dell (Nasdaq: DELL).

Dell, Ousley feels, is well-served by "getting aggressive" on the service side. As an investor, he thinks the company has an attractive valuation and holds promise for growth. He also had been watching Compellent Technologies as another promising investment, but with Dell buying that company earlier this week, he now has two opportunities in one -- depending on what happens to Dell's share price as a result.

IBM feeds Ousley's conservative side. "It's the most predictable of the tech companies ... in a good way." The company is well-positioned in the IT services space and is making excellent headway in its global expansion. Overall, Ousley says, it's a solid investment.

Finally, fed by his background in the storage business, Ousley is always intrigued by Seagate Technology (Nasdaq: STX). The manufacturer of storage devices has seen its shares on a bit of a roller coaster for the year, but that's a good thing in Ousley's mind.

"This is a great company to buy on dips because they always come back."

And that's why it pays to watch. You can make smarter investing decisions with your own version of My Watchlist, new and free from the Fool. Click below to start following one of the stocks mentioned above: