Network Management Strategies for the CIO
2008Product categories
Many different factors can contribute to making a product good -- an excellent reliability record, an unusually easy-to-use interface, or sometimes even a very low price point. But what makes a product great? We think the mark of a great product is when it gets a ringing endorsement from your peers. That's why the 2008 Product Leadership Awards were selected by networking professionals themselves, based on their assessment of the products they currently deploy.
The editors at SearchNetworking.com used a survey-based system to discover what products readers are using and how they feel about those products. The questions asked depended on the specific product and its important functions. The editors compiled the results to come up with the best products that are actually being used to keep today's networks running efficiently, reliably and safely.
More than 1800 SearchNetworking.com readers were polled to produce results. Respondents were asked to select the products they currently use in 12 categories and to evaluate them according to product-specific criteria. Each criterion was assigned a weighed value based on importance, and cumulative scores were calculated for each product. SearchNetworking.com editors used these scores to award gold, silver and bronze medals to the industry's best products in 12 categories.