CMP Media’s VARBusiness magazine honored the winners of its third annual Tech Innovator program at an awards event held in conjunction with the XChange Tech Innovators Conference in San Francisco. The Tech Innovator program recognizes vendors for outstanding achievement in technology innovation and represents all major categories of technology products.

“Innovations like what we’ve seen from the winning companies demonstrate the vibrancy and vitality of the industry,” says Lawrence M. Walsh, editor of VARBusiness, the biweekly that covers the business of technology integration. “They represent breakthroughs that will benefit our solution-provider readers and, in turn, the users of technology.”

The Tech Innovator awards are given for products introduced, upgraded or completely revised during 2005 and covered 11 different categories. Over 550 entries were received this year, and the 2005 winners are:

  • Wireless/Mobility
    SonicWALL: TZ 150 Wireless
  • Components
    AMD: Athlon 64×2 dual-core processor
  • Client/Network Security
    SonicWALL: Pro 1260 Enhanced
  • Storage
    FalconStor: IPStor Enterprise Edition
  • Open Source and Linux
    Pingtel: SIPxchange
  • SMB Software
    Microsoft: Navision 4.0
  • Enterprise Software
    Symantec: Veritas Enterprise Vault 6.0
  • Printing and Imaging, Peripherals
    Xerox: WorkCentre C2424 Color MFS
  • Server-Based Computing
    IBM: eServer p5 570
  • Client Devices
    Toshiba: Libretto U100-S213
  • Voice/Data Networking
    3Com: Switch 8800

Tech Innovator of the Year

IBM was named the VARBusiness Tech Innovator of the Year for its eServer p5 570, an architecture that is flexible and modular to accommodate businesses as they scale.

“The servers are driving IBM’s position in the marketplace,” says Walsh. “The p5 570, which runs both Unix and Linux operating systems, is expected to continue boosting the fortunes of IBM and its business partners in the year ahead.”

The 2005 Tech Innovator winners will be recognized in the VARBusiness Dec. 19 “State of Technology” issue, which includes profiles, features and in-depth explanations of the technologies and products.

APC, Cisco, Lexmark and Toshiba were the 2005 VARBusiness Tech Innovator Awards program sponsors.

Methodology

Nominated products were judged in two stages: a first-round examination by VARBusiness’ team of technology editors, followed by a final selection by a panel of judges assembled from the solution-provider community. These judges ran the gamut in terms of knowledge and skill sets, from security technologies to network infrastructure to application development. Judges scored products on number of criteria: how new and improved the technology is, its price/performance ratio and finally, its money-making potential for solution providers.