Our 12th annual look at the people, companies, technologies and ideas transforming the network industry.

Enlightened souls teach that inner power is the path to true strength. By all evidence, the networking industry has been experiencing a flowering of its inner power and strength. As events unfolded in 2005, we witnessed powerful corporate moves, insightful technology strategies, an upswelling of new products, technology and more. Here we connect you to all the sources of the network industry’s inner power.

Beth Schultz, editor, Signature Series bschultz@nww.com

Power plays
We review the network industry's major power moves of 2005.

Four of the industry's most owerful tell about who has influenced them.

The Power Issue is one of six bimonthly supplements providing insights, opinions and information on the biggest trends shaping the networked world. Next up: The Best Products Issue, coming Feb. 27.

View all Signature Series issues

Connecting you to the network industry’s most powerful vendors:

The Power 15

Users pick the most powerful vendors

Power winners — and losers

Early adopters share how three emerging technologies have empowered their enterprises:

Application virtualization saves money

Reputation services fight spam

Continuous data protection eases backups

Profiling the most powerful people in networking:

The 50 most powerful people in networking

Four power players name their heroes

Power profiles
Meet five of the most powerful people in-depth:

We examine four struggles shaping the network world:

Carriers struggle over IP

Cisco vs. Juniper over app-aware networks

Cisco vs. OpenView and Tivoli?

Cities battle carriers over Wi-Fi