Categories
Network & Application Performance Optimization
Successful businesses compete in high-volume and high-demand environments where every microsecond and every kilobit counts. Measuring, optimizing, and managing networked applications is key to business success, but the "secret sauce" for achieving high-performance remains an elusive combination of implementing appropriate technology, ensuring process optimization, and know-how.
The Application Networks and Performance category includes those products that assist in the testing, measurement, optimization and management of the network. Products and services including network analyzers, cable testers, application load generators, and traditional network test equipment that actively measure local and wide-area physical and logical network performance are included in this category. Performance enhancement and process optimization technologies like accelerators, caching devices, traffic tuners, server virtualization, virtualization management and load balancers that optimize network application performance are also included.
Data Center & Storage
Implementing appropriate storage and data management technologies helps to ensure that an organization's data is protected, retrievable, and re-usable and complies with industry and government regulations regarding retention, security and disposal.
The Data Center and Storage category includes networked attached storage (NAS), storage area networks (SAN), iSCSI, InfiniBand and Fibre Channel devices as well as data encryption and other data security products. Tape drives and libraries, Flash drives and optical technologies will also be considered. This category includes software that assists with the management and use of data within organizations. Products and services such as data archiving and retrieval, database management, policy management and data reporting will also be considered.
Also included in the Data Center and Storage category are the products that form the core of the data center like cooling equipment, power conditioning and power backup equipment, equipment racks, cable management systems and physical security systems.
Infrastructure
From routers to DHCP services, your network infrastructure lays the foundation for reliable delivery of connectivity and application throughput for your staff, business partners and customers. Today's network professional must design and manage complex, global IT infrastructures from the data center to remote office with a constant eye on performance, redundancy and the budget.
The Infrastructure category includes traditional products that make up the core connectivity in the network, such as LAN and campus switches, hubs, routers; critical network services such as DNS and DHCP; and general purpose servers and blade servers.
Network Management Software & Services
Network professionals must ensure application delivery across a heterogeneous network of private leased lines, virtual private networks, and the public Internet. They are looking to build resilient, cost-efficient system-wide networks for increased business continuity and the ability to handle greater data payloads brought on by new company initiatives. And they need to do this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, while meeting the growing demands of a never satiated user base.
The Network Management Software and Services category includes software that provides services and management capabilities to systems and users including service-oriented architecture (SOA) products and services. This includes the products, technologies and services for managing the health of network devices and applications software, such as policy servers, configuration management, emerging technologies and strategies designed to optimize converged networks, load and capacity monitoring and user activity tools. This category includes Web servers, browsers, server operating systems, directories, development tools and business application integration.
Security
For all the benefits the Internet affords us, it's proving to be one tough neighborhood. Spam, spyware, blended threats, and viruses undermine consumer confidence and interfere with business applications. Identity theft, information espionage, and cyber-terrorism are omnipresent threats. Despite this dismal scenario, innovations in mobile, collaborative, and converged applications are not only sustaining, but also accelerating the delivery of Internet applications and services. Security professionals are thus pressed on two fronts: reducing risk and providing defenses and countermeasures to combat known and zero-day attacks, while enabling new applications for an increasingly mobile workforce and consumers.
The Security category includes products that monitor and provide security services. Product examples include firewalls, VPN products, identity management, network access control, policy management and compliance, intrusion detection systems, denial of service solutions, and vulnerability assessment tools. (This category excludes data and storage security including stored data encryption products--see the Data Center and Storage category above).
VoIP & Collaboration
The collaborative enterprise is here, and it's here to stay. The goals: help people work together in today's virtual workplace, quickly and easily, whenever and wherever they need to; ensure that employees can locate and collaborate with the knowledge experts they need to succeed; and cut costs while boosting productivity. The need for real-time, converged applications has never been greater, as the vast majority of employees work away from their company's headquarters, and companies continue to struggle to cut costs while growing productivity.
The VoIP and Collaboration category includes those products and technologies that facilitate collaboration and make use of the converged network including multimedia and streaming media capabilities and voice applications. This category includes IP phones, PBXs, voice and video gateways, asynchronous and real-time collaboration products, unified communication software and services, Web 2.0 tools and services, such as blogs, wikis, RSS and AJAX, streaming media delivery and videoconferencing technologies. Also in this category are portal software, collaboration and messaging applications.
Wireless & Mobility
The Wireless and Mobility category involves products and services that get information to those who need it, when they need, no matter where they are. Careful planning and technology selection are critical for successful mobile and wireless deployments.
The Wireless and Mobility category includes both hardware and software wireless products, technologies, devices and services. Products based on personal area networking (PAN), local area networking (LAN), wide area networking (WAN), fixed/mobile and mobile/mobile convergence as well as fixed-access wireless will be examined. On the software side, wireless middleware, security and application technologies will also be considered here.
Software
Software is the lifeblood of the IT industry, so for 2008 a new Software category has been created to explore applications and services that may not have fit in our traditional product categories.
The Software category covers - but is not limited to - tools and applications for Content Resource Management (CRM), Document Management, Data Archiving, eDiscovery, Productivity Enhancement, Database Management, Software Development, Education, and Process Automation. This category also includes Middleware products and "Software as a Service" solutions.
The judges reserve the right to change the award category of the original product submission.
Special Awards
Best Start-Up Product
Any hardware, software or service in any of the eight categories above will be evaluated to see whether they meet the criteria for consideration for the Best Start-Up Product award. To be considered, the vendor cannot have existed as an independent company prior to January 1, 2007 and the product can not have previously been considered for a Best Start-Up Product award.
Green Award
Any hardware, software or service in any of the eight categories above will be evaluated to see whether they meet the criteria for consideration for the Green Award. This new award is designed to recognize companies and products that embrace ecology-friendly initiatives in their function, design and manufacture.
Best of Interop Las Vegas 2008
An overall Grand Prize Winner award will be given to one of the category winners judged to have the single most significant new product or service at the show.
