VARBusiness Picks Top Tech Innovators

Category: Linux
Choice Award: EmergeCore IT in a Box
Also honored: IBM Integrated Platform Express; Novell Nterprise Linux

Category: Security
Choice Award: FortiGate 60 Antivirus Firewall
Also honored: PGP Universal; CA eTrust Content Management

Category: Storage
Choice Award: Sanrad iSCSI V-Switch
Also honored: EMC Symmetrix DMX; Dantz Retrospect 6.5

Category: Wireless
Choice Award: Acer TravelMate 250PE
Also honored: Panasonic Toughbook CF-73; ReefEdge Wireless Fabric

Category: Peripherals
Choice Award: HP Digital Projector mp3130
Also honored: Xerox Phaser 6250; ViewSonic ThinEdge VP Series LCD monitors

Category: Non-Web Services
Choice Award: Novell ZENworks 6
Also honored: IBM Lotus Domino V 6.5; Opsware System 4

Category: Infrastructure
Choice Award: Citrix MetaFrame
Also honored: Cisco Catalyst 3750; NetScaler 9000

Category: Web Services
Choice Award: NetIQ WebTrends Reporting Center 6.0
Also honored: Kaseya Virtual System Administrator V3; BMC Software PATROL Express V3

Contest Criteria
To determine the most innovative products, VARBusiness, along with its esteemed panel of judges, used the following five questions for guidelines. Even beyond the confines of our contest, you'll want to ask yourself the same things when evaluating your own portfolio.

How useful is the product in solving real problems? How new and improved is the product, and how well does it work compared with what came before? Where does the product sit on the price/performance curve? How much money can you make with the product? How cool is the product?