Scenes From The 2008 VARBusiness Tech Innovator Awards Event
The 2008 VARBusiness Tech Innovator Awards, held Nov. 18, in San Jose, Calif., honored 14 technology vendors across 16 categories for their technological creativity in products launched over the past year. Entries were evaluated for their ability to deliver new functionality, to solve problems in new ways and to overcome previous technical limitations.
Ahead of the awards ceremony, solution providers and vendor executives mingled over cocktails. Suchindran Chatterjee (center), chairman and CEO of solution provider 21st Century Solutions, with Jerry Lumpkin, vice president of channel sales for Toshiba's Digital Products Division, and Danielle Brincko of public relations firm Access Communications.
Intel's Ravinder Singh (left) and David Schwaab, co-founder of Rebit Technologies, make sure they get their fair share of drinks at the cocktail party ahead of the awards ceremony.
Chris Sullivan (left), vice president and managing director of ChannelWeb, VARBusiness Senior Editor Kevin McLaughlin and VARBusiness Associate Editor Stefanie Hoffman, all of Everything Channel, enjoy the pre-party.
Stephen DiFranco, vice president and general manager of the consumer group at Lenovo, at his table with his fiancee, Eileen Renner, before the award ceremony gets underway.
Everything Channel Senior Vice President and Editorial Director Robert DeMarzo welcomes attendees to the sixth annual Tech Innovator awards ceremony.
IBM took home the top prize in Business Software Enterprise category for its Mashup Center. IBM CTO and Vice President of Information Management Anant Jhingran (right) and Vice President of Worldwide Channels Shaun Jones (left) accept the award from Edward Moltzen, director of Everything Channel's CRN Test Center.
Netgear's ProSafe GS724AT 24-port Gigabit Switch nabbed the award for the Connectivity category. Matthew Dargis, senior director of U.S. sales and marketing at Netgear, accepts the trophy from VARBusiness Managing Editor of Technology Jennifer Follett.
Kerio was named Tech Innovator of the Year in the Business Software SMB category for its Kerio Mail Server. President and CEO Scott Schreiman (left) and Dusan Vitek (right), vice president of worldwide marketing, accepts the award from Everything Channel's Edward Moltzen.
Ruckus Wireless President and CEO Selina Lo (right) and Vice President of Marketing David Callisch, accept their award for Tech Innovator of the Year in the Wireless category from Everything Channel's Jennifer Follett. Ruckus won for its ZoneFlex 7942 802.11n wireless access point.
Lexmark nabbed the top prize in the Printing category for its Lexmark Legal Partner multifunction printer. Sharon Brindley, vice president of U.S. business channels, accepts the award from Everything Channel's Edward Moltzen.
Check Point Software Technologies was named Tech Innovator of the Year for the Security category for its UTM-1 Total Security appliance. Dave Burton, director of channel marketing, accepts the award from Everything Channel's Jennifer Follett.
Tech Innovator of the Year honors for the Managed Services went to Reflexion Networks for its Reflexion Total Control managed e-mail security offering. Vice President of Worldwide Sales Scott Barlow accepts the award from Everything Channel's Edward Moltzen.
Lenovo was named Tech Innovator of the Year in the Desktops category for its ThinkStation M57. Stephen DiFranco (right), vice president and general manager of Lenovo's consumer group, and Tom Ribble, director of worldwide ThinkPad product marketing, accept the award from Everything Channel's Jennifer Follett.
Citrix Systems won the Tech Innovator of the Year award in the Virtualization category for XenServer 4.1. Tom Flink (right), vice president of worldwide channels and emerging product sales, and John Bara (left), vice president of product marketing of the Virtualization and Management Division at Citrix, pick up the trophy from Everything Channel Senior Editor Joseph Kovar.
BakBone Software won the top prize for the Storage category with its NetVault product line. Mark Williams, vice president of North American sales, accepts the award from Everything Channel Technical Editor Samara Lynn.
Samsung was named Tech Innovator of the Year in the Displays category for its A800B projector. Eric Buecheler (left), reseller account manager at Samsung, accepts the award from Everything Channel's Joseph Kovar.
Tech Innovator of the Year honors for the Portables category went to Toshiba for its Portege R500 laptop. Jerry Lumpkin, vice president of business channel sales for Toshiba's Digital Products Division, accepts the award from Everything Channel's Samara Lynn.
Intel and its Modular Server nabbed the award for Tech Innovator of the Year in the Servers category. Jared Leavitt, product line manager for the Intel Modular Server, accepts the trophy from Everything Channel's Joseph Kovar.
Alcatel-Lucent was named Tech Innovator of the Year in the VoIP category for its OmniTouch Advanced Communications Server. Greg Kovich, director of business development, accepts the award from Everything Channel's Samara Lynn.
Lenovo was singled out as the winner of the Editor's Choice Award for its ThinkPad X300. Lenovo's Stephen DiFranco hoists the trophy after he and Lenovo's Tom Ribble accepted it from Everything Channel's Joseph Kovar (far right) and Samara Lynn.
The overall Tech Innovator of the Year award went to Intel. Jared Leavitt (center) celebrates after accepting the trophy from Everything Channel's Robert DeMarzo (right) and Edward Moltzen.
The winners of the 2008 VARBusiness Tech Innovator Awards.
Everything Channel hosted an after party at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, where guests could interact with some of the museum's many exhibits. Here, APC's Jason Walker enjoys a cocktail in the back of an electric car.
Everything Channel Vice President of Events Nancy Hammervik interacts with virtual butterflies during the after party at The Tech Museum of Innovation.
Intel's Jared Leavitt tries his hand at arm wrestling during the after party at The Tech Museum of Innovation.
For more information on the products and vendors featured at the 2008 VARBusiness Tech Innovator Awards, follow these links:
2008 VARBusiness Tech Innovator Award Winners
Intel: Innovator of the Year
Pushing the Envelope: Innovation At XChange In San Jose
[Photo: Everything Channel's Robert DeMarzo (front row, second from the left), with executives from the sponsors of the 2008 VARBusiness Tech Innovators Awards event, Intel, Eaton and Toshiba]