Honoring The Visionaries, Luminaries Of High-Tech

The event, hosted by CRN, Comdex and the Computer History Museum,and featuring the comedy of The Tonight Show host Jay Leno,drew more than 1,000 people, including family, friends and colleagues who came to cheer the accomplishments of the six honorees: Gary Starkweather, the inventor of the laser printer and a Microsoft architect; John Chambers, President and CEO of Cisco Systems; Michael Ruettgers, executive chairman of EMC; Walter J. "Jerry" Sanders III, chairman and co-founder of Advanced Micro Devices; Michael Krasny, chairman emeritus of CDW Computer Centers; and Izzy Schwab, CEO of D&H Distributing.

The six new members join a host of other inductees honored each year since 1997 for reshaping the course of the high-tech industry and making a lasting impact on society.

Starkweather, who noted that there were few who believed in the laser printer idea 30 years ago, said one key to success is persistence,a theme echoed by several inductees.

Krasny recalled the uphill battle he fought to build respect for CDW's national small-business channel model, while Sanders said AMD has "had the courage to put itself at risk to challenge a monopolist in the field of microprocessors."

Chambers noted a common message from the honorees: the "importance family played in their lives," along with the "extended family" at work. And Ruettgers, who thanked his family and colleagues, said, "You need a wide range of partners to be successful, so part of this award goes to everybody else here as well."

Similarly, Schwab said that in some ways, he should be giving an award to "all the manufacturers and their sales organizations, for without them, I wouldn't be here tonight and there might not be a D&H."