ARC Overview: Kings of the New Economy

The growing influence of the Web economy is very much evident in this year's Annual Report Card issue. Product areas such as Internet software, security software and enterprise development tools were included for the first time. On the hardware side, desktop and notebook computers were combined into a new category called clients.

All of that resulted in a recast ARC and, correspondingly, the emergence of some new and different vendors in the competition,and, in some cases, the winner's circle. Allaire, for example, took first place in the enterprise development tools category, while also pulling off a surprising tie with IBM in Internet software. Dell, whose successful business formula set off shock waves throughout the high-tech industry,and moved the supply-chain management issue to the front burner,was victorious in the clients category, proving that solution providers are playing a critical role in shoring up that vendor's direct-business model.

Other winners were Cisco, Compaq, IBM, ViewSonic and Western Digital in the hardware categories. Computer Associates, Microsoft and Network Associates were winners in the software areas of the ARC. Notably missing from the winner's circle was Hewlett-Packard, which took the top spot in four product categories last year.

But no matter who wins, drops out or places in between, the ARC remains the definitive guide to the best vendors, as rated by their solution providers. In this edition, the 15th annual, we gathered some 4,600 surveys of solution providers across 12 product categories.

The survey ranked vendors in three broad areas: products/pricing, support and partnership. Then it divided those into 11 separate criteria, where solution providers further ranked each vendor. The result is much more than a simple popularity contest. It's a useful reference guide for both solution providers and vendors, which many industry executives use to probe for weaknesses in their existing product lines and channel strategies.

The report that follows includes details about the different product categories,and the changes that have affected many of those markets during the past year. A foldout scorecard provides an overview of the entire ARC competition. You'll also find the ARC features, stories about each winner, and vendor profiles and scorecards online at www.varbusiness.com/arc. We know you'll find this wealth of data useful as you set your goals.