The 2012 CRN Tech Innovator And Enterprise App Awards

2012 Tech Innovators

At UBM Channel's NexTI Conference in Las Vegas last week, resellers gathered from far and wide to exchange ideas and network with fellow solution providers, acquire new skills and see demos of hardware and software by some of the most innovative companies in the world.

They also were on hand to witness awards presented by CRN Test Center Managing Editor Edward Correia and Associate Editor Katie Hoss. For nearly a decade, the CRN Test Center has been honoring the industry's top manufacturers with its Tech Innovator award for enterprise products that increase productivity and reduce cost and complexity through innovation and advancement of technology. This year also marked the second annual presentation of the Enterprise App Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements by developers of mobile apps for the enterprise. Here's a look at the winners, including the CRN Test Center's 2012 Editor's Choice for the most innovative product of the year.

VDIworks DaaSManager

In the view of Test Center editors, no single software product in the market today combines a remote access gateway, connection broker, support for Linux and Windows desktops, power management and VM management in a single solution as well as this product does. It's also the first and only completely free desktop-as-a service solution in the industry. Congratulations went to this year's winner for cloud solutions, VDIworks DaaSManager. Accepting for VDIworks was Amir Husain, president and CEO of VDIworks.

Panasonic LFP 30 Series

This year's winning LCD/signage display product is well suited for the growing number of outdoor digital applications we're seeing today. The IP66-rated display is designed to resist excessive heat, extreme cold, and dust and water damage without requiring an additional enclosure. It's built with a corrosion-resistant aluminum casing, and its trans-reflective liquid crystal technology provides good visibility in bright, outdoor locations. Congratulations go to Panasonic for its LFP 30 Series LCD display. Accepting for Panasonic was Mark Wright, senior area sales manager.

ViewSonic PLED-W500

In the category of projection display, we recognized an LED technology that's rated to deliver 20,000 hours of lamp life at extremely low power consumption. It's packed into a 3-pound device along with HDMI and other inputs, one gigabyte of file storage plus SD and USB inputs for presentations without a PC, 3D-readiness, automatic keystone correction and integrated speakers. It's a portable LED Projector with widescreen viewing and incredibly sharp and vibrant images. We congratulate ViewSonic for its PLED-W500 ultra projector and invited director of sales Colleen Brown to receive the award.

Wasp Barcode WWS100i

This year's winner in the handheld device category is an asset and inventory scanner that fits easily into a shirt pocket. It can be controlled wirelessly from an iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone or similar mobile device and even a PC. It weighs just 15 ounces, can easily read poorly printed or damaged bar codes and has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery to handle up to 5,000 scans on a single charge. This year's Tech Innovator award for handhelds went to the WWS100i from Wasp Barcode Technologies. Accepting for Wasp was Bryan Keepers, director of sales.

N-able N-central 9

In the category of Managed Services, the industry's first and only standards-based remote monitoring and management platform provides unmatched business enablement and automation. It delivers advanced remote control of client devices, an integrated MSP Runbook and an extensive array of attended and unattended remote control routines. Congratulations go to N-able Technologies for N-central 9. Accepting was N-able president and COO JP Jauvin.

Extreme Networks BDX 8

Moving on to enterprise networking, this industry-leading switch vendor provides "fabric in a box" technology that offers high density, low latency and energy efficiency. It eliminates the challenges and expense of energy-hungry, multibox and multitier solutions. Congratulations go to Extreme Networks for its BDX 8. Accepting was Greg Cross, Extreme Networks' director of public relations and Sandra Creek, the company's senior director of channels.

Logitech BCC950

This year's winner in voice-over-IP Networking caused us to rethink the category for unified communications and video collaboration to include this company's all-in-one audio and video device. As the first communications tool to combine a full HD webcam with a high-quality, omni-directional full-duplex speakerphone in a single USB device, this year's winner enables small groups to conveniently and affordably collaborate, often using standard tools and protocols they already have. Congratulations go to Logitech International and its BCC950 ConferenceCam. Accepting was Joe Sorrentino, Logitech's director of regional sales and marketing, and Ziva Nissan, senior B2B video product manager.

Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook

The next category is PCs, portables, ultraportables and netbooks. As one might imagine, there were a large number of highly qualified product applicants this year. The one we chose is a second-generation ultrabook developed for consumers and business users seeking superior performance, elegant styling and ease of use in an ultra-thin, lightweight package. With third-gen Intel processors and Windows 7 or 8 operating system's innovative software features, this year's winner helps users stay running and connected anywhere, anytime. Congratulations go to Samsung's Series 9 Premium Ultrabook. Accepting for Samsung was Richard Hutton, director of channel sales and marketing.

Hewlett-Packard Z1

The winner in the PC workstation category identified a shift toward smaller workspaces, meeting a need that customers themselves hadn't yet recognized. The result was the world's first 27-inch all-in-one workstation. This innovative unit's display tilts down into a horizontal position and flips open like the hood of a car for servicing. Every piece and part was engineered specifically for this unit, right down to the hydraulic hinges that hold the cover open. The chassis enables technicians to simply swap out parts and make upgrades easily, quickly and without tools. The unit we're referring to is the Z1 from Hewlett-Packard. Accepting for HP was Jeff Wood, vice president of worldwide product management.

Lantronix xPrintServer

That brings us to the printing and imaging category. In the first six months of its availability, this category's winning device had produced the company's most successful product in 20 years. And it's no wonder -- it's the first and only hardware solution for printing from iPads and iPhones. It works with more than 4,000 printers, uses no software, no apps and no configuration; simply open it, plug it in and print. Congratulations go to Lantronix for its xPrintServer. Accepting the award was David Harlow, senior manager of global channels.

Dell PowerEdge R720xd

This year's winner in the Server category shattered performance records of all that had come before. It's designed for virtualization, high-performance computing, medical imaging, email service and other workloads hungry for storage and I/O performance. This rack-based powerhouse combines extraordinary memory and storage capacities with highly impressive I/O performance, reinforcing it with availability and serviceability features and unparalleled management tools, to deliver outstanding value and rock-solid reliability to the enterprise. This year's winner in the Server category was Dell and the PowerEdge R720xd server. Accepting for Dell was Thomas Garvens, executive director of Enterprise Server Development.