VARBusiness Names Tech Innovators of the Year
VARBusiness
One of the evening's highlights was presenting the Technologist of the Year Award, with the intent to honor an engineer, product manager, researcher or inventor who has actively advanced the state of technology. The award was given to Novell's Nat Friedman for his tireless work overseeing the development of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and its associated office-productivity applications.
IBM was once again a big winner at this year's Tech Innovator Awards, taking top honors in three categories. Most significant, Big Blue went home with the coveted Innovative Company of the Year Award for pushing the boundaries of technology and delivering innovation to the channel. Big Blue demonstrated superior innovation this year with its push deeper into managed and professional services, as well as its expanding security and storage product portfolio.
IBM also picked up a win for its Express Managed Services Portfolio in the Services category, as well as a win in the Storage Hardware and Software category for its Continuous Data Protection for Files product.
HP wasn't far behind, taking home wins in two categories this year. HP's ProLiant DL580 G4 Server won in the Server Hardware category, while the HP Compaq NC 2400 took the Client Devices category win.
The Business Software Enterprise category saw a tie between Business Objects' XI Release 2 product and Sage Software's Sage CRM SalesLogix product. For Data/Voice Networking, D-Link won for its Wi-Fi Phone (DPH-540 and DPH 541) product lines. Iomega's StorCenter Wireless Network Storage 1 TB earned top honors in the Wireless Networking category.
For its part, Lexmark broke onto the scene, winning the Printing and Imaging category for its Lexmark X644e product. ViewSonic's NMP-500 Network Media Player and ND4200-LS Net IP Integrated Display clinched the award for the Display category. For White-Box Components, Raritan Computer's KIRA 100 product earned top billing.
A relative newcomer to the Tech Innovator Awards, 01Communique's I'm In Touch Corporate Server was awarded top honors in the Business Software SMB category. On the Security Hardware and Software front, 3Com's TippingPoint X505 product received top honors, while Altiris' Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) won the Application Infrastructure category.
The 2006 VARBusiness Tech Innovator awards were judged by a panel of solution-provider executives and VARBusiness editors. The judges scored the products based on five main points -- usefulness, how new and/or improved the product is, where it sits on the price/performance, revenue potential and the "coolness" factor.