Test Center engineers looked at several of 2005’s notebooks, and three lines came out on top when it comes to features and channel compatibility. Lenovo’s ThinkPad Z series, Hewlett-Packard’s NX series and Toshiba America Information Systems’ Tecra product line.

Selecting a winner from these three competitors was difficult, but after considering all the variables, Toshiba’s Tecra edged out the rest, especially in the form of the Tecra M4, a high-performance convertible that offers portability yet can function as a desktop replacement.

Toshiba offers a partner-friendly channel program, which promises easy access to products, good support and decent margins. Test Center engineers specifically focused on Toshiba’s M4-S515, which sports a 2GHz Intel Pentium M760 processor, 512 Mbytes of RAM, 80-Gbyte hard disk and features a 14.1-inch display, which can be used as a tablet. Although a little heavy at around 7 pounds, most users will find that a small price to pay for desktoplike performance, convertibility and portability.

With notebook sales currently outpacing desktop sales, Toshiba’s product features, channel program specifics and versatility combine to make the Tecra M4 a winner. —Frank J. Ohlhorst

The IBM eServer 326 is based on AMD’s latest Opteron processors with HyperTransport technology. If performance warrants it, the e326 can be configured with two dual-core Opteron processors with dual 1-Mbyte Level 2 caches. The server will accommodate up to 16 Gbytes of memory. This is an ideal server for running 64-bit applications, and it can easily tackle multithreaded applications that require extensive memory addressability.

Dual integrated Gigabit Ethernet controllers are standard, so the eServer 326’s two PCI-X slots are available for expansion purposes. Two slimline hard drives provide a maximum capacity of 600 Gbytes with hot-swap SCSI drives or 320 Gbytes with fixed Serial ATA drives.

In addition, Neterion’s second-generation Xframe II 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapters, which are available as options, deliver true line-rate 10-Gbps throughput to handle extreme network traffic. An integrated IPMI 1.5-compliant system management processor allows one or many of the e326 servers to be controlled locally or remotely.

IBM’s PartnerWorld channel program offers comprehensive technical support, training and consulting, with a dedicated Web portal for partners. Hardware margins typically range from 5 percent to 10 percent, but solution providers generate more revenue by providing consulting and integration services. IBM’s midmarket services, such as Web hosting, security, e-mail hosting and e-commerce, generate ongoing profits. —Marc Spiwak

As hardware margins continue to shrink—especially with commoditized items like LCD displays—solution providers need to offer their customers a display that is competitively priced but also provides superior image quality. Samsung’s SyncMaster 930BF is a 19-inch flat-panel display that will deliver both a decent margin for the solution provider and a beautiful display for the end user.

The unit features both VGA and DVI inputs so it can adapt to any environment regardless of infrastructure. The flat-panel display offers a native resolution of 1,280 x 1,024 and a 160-degree viewing angle.

The SyncMaster 930BF has a response time of 4 milliseconds, which will allow it to project video without any ghosting or latency issues. The super-fast response time allows the device to be used in either a typical office with basic business applications or in a more suitable visual-dependent environment where image quality can really be appreciated.

Brilliant image quality has always been associated with Samsung displays—and nothing has changed with the SyncMaster 930BF. Out of the box, brightness and saturation level was spot on, with text being displayed with precision.

Samsung’s channel program offers average reseller margins from 12 percent to 18 percent. It also includes a sales incentive fund, rewards, rebates, bid pricing, government and education pricing, free collateral, training and leasing programs, and a toll-free reseller line. —Vincent A. Randazzese

The Phaser 6350DP warms up in seconds and makes little noise in idle mode; it also quickly goes back to sleep. A sample unit in use for several months in the Test Center has never had a paper jam or displayed an obscure error message. It just needs to be fed paper, for which it has a voracious appetite if kept busy.

Performance tests were made using sample files from the Spencer & Associates’ printer test suite. The 6350DP printed a 10-page monochrome Word document in 27 seconds and a 10-page Word document with color headings in just 24 seconds. It processed and printed a full-page color photo of a castle in 13 seconds. Output also is quite sharp with good contrast. The Phaser 6350DP has a monthly duty cycle of 120,000 pages, which is a tremendous volume for a printer of this

Peak channel program has different levels based on quarterly sales volumes, training, Authorized Service Provider status and maintaining a current demo unit. Standard Peak level support includes an incentive-based card program, a demo program, MDFs and more. The average margin for solution providers taking advantage of these discounts and rebates is 10 percent. —Marc Spiwak

Controlling content is one of the most basic ways to prevent unwanted data from entering a system. So with those concerns in mind, Test Center engineers decided on three Product of the Year finalists: AppRiver Secure Tide, Mycompro Mail Max and SurfControl Enterprise Threat Shield. While each targets specific problems, only Enterprise Threat Shield strives to filter and control all data traversing a network. SurfControl combines scanning, reporting and remediation to protect network assets. It consists of two primary components—a client that is pushed down to workstations and a centralized management console. The management console maintains a database of allowed or disallowed activities, while the desktop client validates activity against that database.

Enterprise Threat Shield offers protection against malicious code that may arrive via e-mail, downloads or peer-to-peer applications while providing a mechanism to enforce company usage policies. Solution providers will be well-served by what SurfControl has to offer. —Frank J. Ohlhorst

The problem facing many small businesses is the lack of financial resources and in-house abilities to generate workable solutions. The Test Center set out to identify which desktop databases/rapid application development tools have the flexibility to meet today’s small-business custom-application needs yet still create opportunity for solution providers. Three products came to the fore: Alpha Software’s new Alpha Five Version 7, FileMaker’s FileMaker Pro Advanced Version 8 and Microsoft’s Access. All enable solution providers to build low-cost software solutions. But Alpha Five V7 earns the Product of the Year nod.

Alpha Five combines automated application design with a full-fledged programming language underneath. Another important element is that developers can distribute runtime versions of Alpha Five applications. FileMaker came in a very close second with its ease of use and direct support of Web-based applications. FileMaker only came up short in its lack of a multiuser runtime and nontraditional methodology. —Frank J. Ohlhorst