Network World
Monday, July 7, 2008
DNSstuff.com
Get information about your IP
IP Information
50+ On-demand DNS and network tools
  |  

Best of the tests

Among more than 200 products tested, 48 finalists, including 10 ultimate winners, rise above.

If the Network World Lab Alliance - an assemblage of the industry's most experienced network product testers - commissioned an ad campaign, the result might very well mimic Orson Welles' famous voiceover for the Paul Masson winery. "We will recommend no product before its time." Well, it's time. With our seventh annual Best of the Tests presentation, we're ready to recognize the best of the more than 200 products we tested last year across a wide range of technologies. We've selected 48 finalists, from which we've named 10 winners, among nine categories, categorizing products based on the most critical network function they address.

This year's Best of the Tests categories, and the product types within each, are:

Convergence: IP phones, unified messaging wares, voice/video collaboration services, VoIP analysis suites, VoIP services. (Potential ad slogan, compliments of Yellow Pages: "Let your fingers do the walking.")

Information management: Enterprise data search engines, storage gear, storage management software. (Potential ad slogan, compliments of Wendy's: "Where's the beef?")

Messaging: Anti-spam products, e-mail encryption wares, e-mail platforms. (Potential ad slogan, compliments of Hallmark: "When you care enough to send the very best.")

Network infrastructure: Application acceleration devices, content switches, servers, switch/routers. (Potential ad slogan, compliments of Federal Express: "Absolutely, positively overnight.")

Network management: Frameworks, IP address management, server management, Web site usability and management. (Potential ad slogan, compliments of Burger King: "Have it your way.")

Security infrastructure: Firewalls, intrusion-detection systems, security appliances, SSL VPNs. (Potential ad slogan, compliments of Timex: "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.")

Security management: Group policy administration tools, identity management products, network forensics tools, patch management tools, vulnerability alerting services. (Potential ad slogan, compliments of the Bounty brand: "The quicker picker-upper."

React: Give us your thoughts on the issues here.
Start a public discussion with other Network World users on this article (scroll up to send this article to a colleague).
Log In | Register for an account (Why you should)

Note: Register to have your user name appear; otherwise your comment will show up as "Anonymous."

*Anonymous comments will only appear once they are approved by the moderator.

Copyright 2008 Network World Inc.


Network World Newsletter

Sign up for some of our Network/ Systems Management newsletters.

Network Optimization
Network Systems Management Alert
Virtualization Alert
IT Careers and Training  Alert
Network World Daily
 All newsletters  

E-mail Address:


Partner Content

NetScout is one of the world's premier providers of integrated network and application performance solutions.

www.netscout.com

Know First

Get Proactive — Move from Troubleshooting to Monitoring to Management with nGenius K2's Service Dashboard & Intelligent Early Warning Alarms

Watch the Video

Know Where

Get Rapid Performance Problem Isolation with nGenius Performance Manager and Diagnose Problems up to 70% Faster!

Learn More

Know Why

Get the Details to Validate and Solve your Toughest Performance Issues with nGenius InfiniStream and Sniffer Intelligence Modules

Read the Whitepaper