2004's Best New Crop of Products

Innovation isn't dead; in fact, it's alive and well in the channel. That's the verdict after we sifted through a blizzard of more than 450 entries to select the best and brightest new products as winners of VARBusiness' second annual Technology Innovators Awards.

Before the winners went home with a coveted cut-glass trophy, our blue-ribbon panel of judges--many of them VARBusiness' advisory board members--were joined by VARBusiness editors to sift through cutting-edge entries from more than 250 different vendors. It wasn't easy to get through that crowded field, which outpaced our first annual Technology Innovators event in 2003; that one attracted 370 entries from a little more than 100 vendors.

This time around, innovations were showcased across nine technology categories: applications infrastructure, client devices, enterprise software, Linux, mobility, peripherals, security, storage, and telephony and networking.

The lengthy selection process began this past summer, when nominations were solicited for products released or significantly upgraded between September 2003 and September 2004. In winnowing the entries down to the finalists, products were judged on factors such as their feature set, usability, level of innovation and appropriateness for the channel.

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Following is the complete list of winning companies. In addition, two special awards were given: An Overall Technology Innovator award went to IBM, which posted the highest aggregate score when all its entries were tallied together. (Last year's OTI honoree was Novell.)

The other special award--Editor's Choice--went to AMD's Athlon 64 processor, which stood out as the most "buzzworthy" offering, with ample promise for VARs looking to provide solutions in the emerging 64-bit arena.

Applications Infrastructure
Top Innovator:
IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server Express
Big Blue's middleware package, priced for midsize businesses, helps integrate existing IT systems, business processes and applications.

Innovators:
VeriSign's Anti-Phishing Solution
This comprehensive security program helps mitigate or eliminate the scourge of "phishing"--scam e-mails used as part of identity-theft attempts.

Novell's exteNd 5.2
This service-oriented, architecture-based suite of infrastructure support software makes it easier than ever to create Web-service applications.

JBoss 4.0
This eponymous product from JBoss is a powerful, open-source application server, enabling customers to take advantage of Java to deliver Web services.

Client Devices
Top Innovator:
Motion Computing M1400 Tablet PC with View Anywhere Display Busting beyond the narrow viewing windows of old-line notebooks, this third-generation tablet PC incorporates a new screen technology that provides an ultrawide viewing angle of 160 degrees.

Innovators:
IBM ThinkPad x40
The latest entry in this ol' reliable of ultraportable PCs sets new standards for small footprint, wireless connectivity and battery life.

AMD Mobile Athlon 64 processor 3400+
The hottest 64-bit architecture on the market comes in a mobile version that is bringing AMD's 64-bit capabilities and HyperTransport technology to the coming generation of portables and white-book systems.

Enterprise Software
Top Innovator:
Maximizer Software's Enterprise 8 CRM software platform
This CRM solution enables SMBs to enhance their customer service and support operations quickly and affordably.

Innovators:
Fast Search & Transfer's FAST ESP
Information retrieval is eased with this enterprise search platform, which allows a 360-degree view into databases and documents.

Actuate 8
Business intelligence is the objective of this enterprise reporting application platform, which boasts Enterprise Information Integration (EII) technology.

Linux
Top Innovator:
Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
The latest Linux server-based operating system offers comprehensive open-source application services and end-to-end management features.

Innovators:
Wyse Linux V6 OS for Thin clients
Based on the new 2.6 kernel, this innovative operating system for thin clients boasts high reliability and three levels of security.

Nitix Autonomic Linux-based Server OS
Positioned as the first Linux-based server operating system with autonomic, or self-healing, features, Nitix works transparently with existing environments.

Mobility
Top Innovator:
3Com wireless LAN access Point 7250
Advanced enterprise features and support for IEEE wireless standards 802.11a and .11g combine in a product that handles 253 simultaneous wireless users at speeds of up to 54 Mbps over distances of up to 328 feet.

Innovators:
D-Link Air Premier DWL-2700AP
This ruggedized outdoor wireless access point is designed to enable operators of hotspots to deliver wireless connectivity to their customers, whether they're setting up a Web link in a café or an outdoor plaza.

Airespace Wireless Location Server
This product uses radio frequency to determine the precise location of a wireless client, enabling the tracking of mobile devices to within a few meters.

Peripherals
Top Innovator:
Sharp LL-151-3D LCD display
This 15-inch standalone monitor delivers high-contrast, three-dimensional images to the naked eye without special glasses or gimmicks.

Innovators:
Sony Electronics SuperLite Series Mobile Projector VPL-CX75
Aimed at mobile professionals, this streamlined design delivers digital presentations with a minimum amount of setup.

Xerox Phaser 8400 solid ink printer
This sub-$1,000 printer delivers 24 color or black-and-white pages per minute in a quality, SMB-ready product.

Security
Top Innovator:
Enterasys NetSight Atlas Automated Security Manager
As a pacesetter in the emerging category of software gateway technologies, this product integrates switching and routing features with intrusion-detection and other security technologies.

Innovators:
Symantec Gateway Security 5400 Series
A full-inspection firewall is combined with protocol-anomaly detection and five other security technologies to deliver a complete gateway appliance.

Hewlett-Packard ProCurve Identity Driven Manager
High-priority business tasks get the resources they require, as this software product configures network-edge devices to keep computing humming along.

Storage
Top Innovator:
Computer Associates BrightStor ARCServe Backup
Easy operation as well as a full suite of controls for the savvy administrator are the foundations of this channel-friendly data-backup software solution.

Innovators:
Sony Electronics SAIT-1 Drive
Native storage capacity of 500 GB (1.3 TB compressed) along with write-once, read-many functionality are combined in this best-of-class, tape-backup product.

Hitachi GST Ultrastar 10K300 hard disk drive

Pack 300 GB of storage into a 10,000-rpm, 3.5-inch hard drive, and you've got a potent device for mission-critical apps, such as online-transaction processing and media streaming.

Telephony and Networking
Top Innovator:
Cisco IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard on Cisco's Catalyst switches
POE, which provides networking along with AC power over a single cable, has been folded into Cisco's Catalyst 3560, 4500 and 6500 series switches, enabling solution providers to field more cost-effective connectivity solutions.

Innovators:
Avaya IP office, Small Office Edition
Designed for up to 28 users, this product packs together the hardware and software needed to support Voice over IP telephony for SMB users.

3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 3200
This workgroup switch delivers both static and dynamic routing, supports gigabit connections and is easy to maintain.

What Determines A Winner
To cull this year's crop of more than 450 entries, VARBusiness' blue-ribbon panel of 11 judges, comprised of VARBusiness Channel Advisory Council members and other technology leaders, along with our staff editors, evaluated each product according to a detailed set of criteria. A thorough assessment of such factors as feature set, usability, innovation and appropriateness for the channel were applied.

Here are some specific questions we considered for each entry: