More than eight in 10 solution providers chose APC as their primary UPS vendor in CRN's 2009 Channel Contenders survey, but when solution providers look for alternative vendors, better price performance and product performance are their top considerations. The Channel Contenders research sought to identify the top vendors that solution providers choose as alternatives to market leaders. Here's a look at five contenders to APC's throne.

Belkin didn't have a good start to 2009. In January, the company investigated an employee who allegedly offered money to reviewers on Amazon's Mechanical Turk Web services affiliate in exchange for good reviews of Belkin products. And on the news side, Belkin's home wireless and digital signage offerings have garnered a lot more attention than its UPS line. But the company remains steadfast in its commitment to data center products -- in CRN's 2009 Channel Contenders Study, Belkin was the most frequently mentioned alternative to market segment dominator APC.

Tripp Lite has been collecting accolades for a number of its UPS and data center-related products, especially the AV550SC Backup Power Block, which was most recently a finalist for the 2009 InfoComm/SCN Award for Most Innovative Power Conditioner or Surge Protection Product. The company positions its power-protecting products for digital media streaming environments, and they've become a sleeper favorite of A/V integrators thanks to hits like the AV550SC and its Pure Sine Wave UPS Systems.

Intronics is best known as a 30-year-veteran manufacturer of DC/DC converters, amplifiers, and image and signal processors. While its power-supply products and custom components aren't an immediate name in the broader category of UPS and power protection, Intronics' components are seen the world over in aerospace and defense, transportation, industrial automation and other highly specialized areas like medical devices.

Liebert, owned by Emerson Network Power, earlier this summer served up the latest in its power and high-heat-density cooling products with the Liebert XD Smart Modules. That the company's been a favorite of solution providers for some time, however, is no secret. Most recently, Emerson Network Power copped CRN's 2009 Channel Champions award for program support in the UPS Data Center Power Management category, thanks to the channel strength of its program and its Liebert products.

In June, Eaton introduced its Intelligent Power Manager software, which scans all UPS systems in a data center regardless of whether they're Eaton's or another vendor's. Herve Tardy, president and general manager of Eaton's Distributed Power Quality Business Unit, said at the time that the software was designed to give IT managers a full view of their entire power-management environment from any secure network computer. The offering also comes bundled with Eaton's own UPSes.