2006 Technology of the Year Awards: The winners' list

See correction at end of article

SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES

Best Enterprise Server
IBM eServer OpenPower 710 
Multiprocessing powerhouse with excellent fault-tolerance features

Best Industry Standard Server
HP ProLiant DL585 
Outstanding out-of-band management and serviceability

Most Innovative Server
Sun Fire T2000 
Changes the math for threaded performance and power consumption

Best Blade System
ClearCube PC Blade System 
Powerful management software for high-availability workstations

Best Workstation
Apple Power Mac G5 Quad 
Impressive hardware specs, sub-$5,000 price tag, and the magic of OS X

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OPERATING SYSTEMS

Best Server Operating System
Mac OS X Server v10.4 
A powerful, extensible Unix server with a uniquely robust set of standard features

Best Client Operating System
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger 
A rich and friendly desktop OS built with professional users in mind

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VIRTUALIZATION

Best Server Virtualization
VMware ESX Server and VirtualCenter 
Dynamic duo points to new possibilities in datacenter management

Best Workstation Virtualization
VMware Workstation 5.5 
Indispensable companion to software developers and testers

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NETWORKING

Best Enterprise Switch
Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Supervisor Engine II-Plus-10GE 
Wire-rate 10-Gig switching and granular QoS support for the edge

Best SMB Switch
Dell PowerConnect 3424P 
Delivers an array of enterprise-class features in a tidy package

Best WAN Traffic Manager
Packeteer PacketShaper 9500 
The Cadillac of QoS for WAN circuits, upholstered with extensive reporting

Best WAN Accelerator
Riverbed Steelhead 3010 
Amazing caching and optimization techniques overcome chatty apps and slow links

Best IP PBX
Siemens HiPath 8000 Real-Time IP System 
Full-featured, scalable phone system that set the standard for SIP support in our test

Best Network Analysis Tool
Niksun NetVCR 2005 
Complete network analysis package that puts complete historical data at your fingertips

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STORAGE

Best SAN
Compellent Storage Center QuickStart 
Extensive management, strong performance, great scalability, and superb ease-of-use

Best iSCSI SAN
EqualLogic PS200E 
A well-designed and superbly executed storage array, boasting extremely good performance

Best Director Switch
McData Intrepid i10K Director 
Fabric partitioning and long-haul connectivity take the sting out of distributed SANs