Nine products stood above all others in their respective categories at this years CeBIT America technology trade show—and were thus honored by eWEEK and PC Magazine with Best of CeBIT awards.
After combing through product submissions from CeBIT exhibitors, the editors of eWEEK and PC Magazine selected nine as the best of the thousands of new products and technologies on display at New York show. The winners of and finalists for these awards were announced Wednesday in a ceremony on the show floor.
To be considered for the awards, products had to be displayed at the show (on the show floor or in a public meeting room) and had to be newly available between Feb. 1 and July 31 of this year.
Here are the winners and finalists in each category, followed by the overall Best of Show award winner.
Enterprise Hardware
Winner: NEC Solutions Disaster Recovery Fault Tolerant Solution
This powerful disaster recovery solution is built on NECs fault tolerant servers and the companys ExpressCluster software. It allows for Active/Active clustering (with 2-minute failover times) to make sure applications keep running even when a data center goes down. Prices start at $100,000.
- NEC Solutions America Inc., www.necsam.com/servers
Finalist: APC InfraStruXure High Density
This power distribution unit provides architecture for network-critical physical infrastructure. It takes care of cooling, power and cabling, allowing IT managers to build up a data center quickly.
- APC (American Power Conversion) Corp., www.apc.com
Finalist: Foundry Networks FES X424
A flexible-edge switch with two 10-gigabit Ethernet uplink ports and 24 10/100/1,000 ports, the FastIron Edge Switch X424 has hot-swappable power supplies and can support additional power supplies for more redundancy.
- Foundry Networks Inc., www.foundrynetworks.com
Enterprise Storage
Winner: Adaptec File Saver Client Backup Kit
This client-side backup appliance provides automatic and continuous desktop and laptop protection. Up to four Adaptec File Saver units can be clustered for dynamic capacity expansions.
- Adaptec Inc., www.adaptec.com
Finalist: Iomega NAS 200d Series
A small, quiet NAS unit that can be used to add storage in a matter of minutes. It runs Microsoft Storage Server 2003 and is priced at $1,999.95 for the 480GB version.
- Iomega Corp., www.iomega.com
Enterprise Platform Software
Winner: NEC Solutions CachePortal
This dynamic-content delivery solution takes an interesting new tact on improving Web application performance. Starting with traditional high-end enterprise caching technology, CachePortal adds a sniffing engine that monitors the connection between the application server and the cache. It looks for changes in dynamic content to provide high-performance gains for key enterprise Web applications.
- NEC Solutions America Inc., www.cacheportal.com
Finalist: Atinav aveComm 1.3
When businesses need remote conferencing and presentation capabilities, they often turn to service offerings that can quickly become prohibitively costly. Atinavs aveComm provides a powerful and feature-rich communications platform that can be deployed within a company and handle heavy connection loads. Unlike many service offerings, it works across all client platforms.
- Atinav, www.avecomm.com
Finalist: Net Integration Technologies Nitix
Using embedded Linux technologies and highly intuitive Web-based management consoles, the Nitix autonomic Linux-based server operating system gives businesses a very capable, affordable and easily deployed server OS that provides many core network and server capabilities needed by small to midsize companies.
- Net Integration Technologies Inc., www.nitix.com
Next Page: Enterprise Systems Defense, Systems Management
ZIFFPAGE TITLEEnterprise Systems Defense
/Systems Management”> Enterprise Systems Defense
Winner: Secure Systems Enterprise Data Vault
To address data security at a fundamental level, Secure Systems encrypts the raw data on both fixed and mobile storage devices and adds the further protection of flexible partitioning and integral audit facilities. With early boot authentication that surpasses operating-system protections, the companys PCI desktop module and standard laptop 2.5-inch drive meet the concerns—and increasingly, the regulatory requirements—of enterprises handling sensitive commercial and customer data.
- Secure Systems Limited, www.securesystems.com.au
Finalist: Websense Enterprise v5.2
The latest refinement of Websense management tools gives enterprises policy-based control of Web activity, with granular control over Internet, IM and peer-to-peer applications. Flexible quota options for various classes of Web activity encourage the development of a climate for responsible use of corporate Internet facilities. Its easy for managers to learn, and the cost per user is very reasonable per user.
- Websense Inc., www.websense.com
Enterprise Systems Management
Winner: NetSupport DNA 1.01
With its ease of implementation, low entry cost and minimal training threshold, NetSupport Inc.s NetSupport DNA 1.01 enterprise management suite will be of tremendous benefit to small and midsize companies. The package provides software distribution, asset management (hardware and software inventory), application metering and remote control capabilities, all with an easy-to-use, intuitive interface.
- NetSupport Inc., www.netsupport-inc.com
Finalist: CrossTec NetOp Remote Control
CrossTec Corp.s NetOp Remote Control is a strong solution for managing infrastructure servers. Systems administrators and IT support personnel will appreciate the packages robust remote-control features, including central management, logging and authentication capabilities. NetOp Remote Control has broad client platform support, including Windows, Linux, Macintosh and Solaris, as well as strong security management features.
- CrossTec Corp., www.crossteccorp.com
Next Page: Enterprise Apps, Personal Software.
ZIFFPAGE TITLEEnterprise Apps
/Personal Software”> Enterprise Applications
Winner: Serious Magic Visual Communicator Studio
This latest build has added support for streaming up to three cameras, live output to a second monitor, Web page linking and PowerPoint OLE support for dynamically updating presentation content, making it an excellent solution for companies that want a simple tool for building complex multimedia presentations. At $695, Visual Communicator Studio is an affordable authoring package.
- Serious Magic, www.seriousmagic.com
Finalist: Inxight Software SmartDiscovery4
This Web-based application makes it easy to search unstructured data, manage data taxonomy and create links between data entities. Users will find it easy to make related queries and drill deeper into search results.
- Inxight Software Inc., www.inxight.com
Finalist: IvyTeam IvyGrid
For companies looking to put business process management in the hands of business analysts, IvyTeams IvyGrid workflow/BPM and Web service application provides a way to build process-based Web applications. The IvyGrid Designer makes it easy to build workflows and prototype designs, and multilanguage support makes this a strong business process management solution. Pricing starts at $2,000 for the designer and $5,000 for the server.
- IvyTeam, www.ivyteam.com
Personal Software
Winner: Mindjet MindManager X5 Professional
This personal and business productivity “mind-mapping” tool could easily become the first software package you turn to when starting a new project, researching a topic or thinking through an idea. Mind mapping starts with a central idea and expands out with related ideas. Those ideas can set off more ideas, and so on. A full library of shapes, icons, images and formatting choices helps emphasize, draw attention to and create interest in each mind map. The latest build adds a host of features, such as Tablet PC support and the ability to import RSS feeds and XML.
- Mindjet, www.mindjet.com
Finalist: Hash Inc. Animation:Master
This cross-platform modeling, rendering and animation package includes everything a digital artist needs to create high-end, high-quality 3D rendered graphics and animations on a Mac or PC, and it costs thousands of dollars less than the better-known packages. Standout features include an automatic lip-sync function and quick online animation.
- Hash Inc., www.hash.com
Next Page: Mobile & Wireless, Personal Hardware.
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/Personal Hardware”> Mobile & Wireless, Personal Hardware
Winner: XMS-PubliCast
This wireless platform enables authorities to deliver alerts to any cell phone or pager within a specified city, county or state—regardless of the variety of carriers in the targeted area. The system utilizes text messaging to broadcast critical announcements quickly and reliably in emergency or crisis scenarios. Unlike traditional TV- or radio-based alerting, XMS-PubliCast is an active alerting system that delivers the urgent, crucial message wherever users are via their wireless device.
- Ombek Inc., www.ombek.com
Finalist: PhoneLabs Technology Unity phone
It looks like a regular office phone, but the Unity phone lets you combine your landline and cell lines when youre at your desk. Simply connect your cell phone to the adapter/charger (over 150 models are currently supported), and you can use the desk phones handset to answer and make calls via your cell. You also have full access to your cell phones address book and other features. You can make conferences calls using your landline and cell lines together, and you can have the Unity phone automatically forward landline calls to your cell when its not docked.
- Phone Labs Technology Company Inc., www.phonelabs.com
Personal Hardware
Winner: Iomega Rev 35
A Zip drive for the 21st century, the Iomega Rev 35 can pack 35GB of uncompressed data on each of its removable cartridges. Based on hard-drive technology, it has fast access and throughput. Its ideal for archiving, shuttling or sharing todays large digital-media libraries.
- Iomega Corp., www.iomega.com
Finalist: HP Rugged Tablet PC tr3000
The HP Rugged Tablet PC tr3000 is a lightweight, wireless-enabled mobile Tablet PC, designed for users who work in demanding environments. It offers performance, features and solutions to enhance productivity, and its ergonomic design is ideal for professionals, field technicians and service organizations. It combines a Transmissive 8.4-inch panel, versatile accessories and mainstream performance in a rugged Tablet PC form. IT managers will value the large portfolio of integrated security options, breadth of integrated wireless connectivity choices and software that enables seamless roaming, giving maximum flexibility to mobile users.
- Hewlett-Packard Development Co. LP, www.hp.com
Finalist: PowerDisk watch
Last year we saw (and liked) the watch/USB flash storage combo devices. This year, we found analog watches that double as MP3 players. Available in a range of styles and with capacities up to 512MB, the PowerDisk watch is a handy solution.
- Koret Inc., www.powerdiskwatch.com
ZIFFPAGE TITLEBest of Show
Best of Show
Winner: NEC Solutions Disaster Recovery Fault Tolerant Solution
This powerful disaster recovery solution is built on NECs fault tolerant servers and the companys ExpressCluster software. It allows for Active/Active clustering (with 2-minute failover times) to make sure applications keep running even when a data center goes down. Prices start at $100,000.
- NEC Solutions America Inc., www.necsam.com/servers