The 2024 Tech Innovator Awards
From among more than 320 applicants, CRN staff evaluated and selected products spanning the IT industry – including AI and AI infrastructure, cloud management, data analytics, networking, security and storage categories – that offer ground-breaking functionality and new opportunities for partners.
Tech Innovators 2024
The wave of development around artificial intelligence and generative AI in the last two years has shaken up the IT industry. As with earlier major paradigm shifts, such as the Internet and cloud computing, AI is spurring innovation across nearly every IT product and technology category including applications, software development, data management, PCs and cybersecurity.
From well-established IT giants to startups with breakthrough ideas, IT vendors have been rushing to develop new products and adapt their current product portfolios in the face of the AI tsunami, either to reap the advantages of adding AI capabilities or upgrade them to meet the new demands of AI systems.
So which new and updated products are creating opportunities for solution providers who work on the front lines with customers as they navigate this new AI-driven market?
To help solution providers identify products that are truly innovative and offer real value for their customers, the 2024 CRN Tech Innovator Awards showcase IT products that can provide game-changing advances in IT – and partner growth opportunities – across 36 technology categories including AI and AI infrastructure, application development, cloud management, data management and analytics, edge computing, networking, security (across 10 subcategories) and storage, among others.
The winners and finalists for this year’s Tech Innovator Awards were chosen by CRN staff after evaluating more than 320 applications. The following slideshow spotlights the winners and finalists among those applications across the 36 technology categories. Complete application data from all the applicants can be found here at crn.com.
AI Infrastructure
Winner: NetApp AIPod
NetApp AIPod is an artificial intelligence- and machine learning-focused converged infrastructure system built on NetApp all-flash storage. AIPod provides a comprehensive AI solution that’s designed to address the challenges that businesses face when adopting and implementing AI.
AIPod consolidates a data center's worth of analytics, training, and inference compute into a single AI infrastructure, reducing cost and complexity. Supported by NetApp's storage systems plus NetApp BlueXP, AI Control Plane and DataOps Toolkit, AIPod integrates with the most popular MLOps platforms.
Finalists:
Liqid UltraStack AI Server
Vertiv SmartRow 2
WEKA WEKApod
Application Development & DevOps
Winner: GitLab Duo
GitLab Duo is a privacy- and transparency-first suite of AI capabilities embedded across the entire software development lifecycle. Applying AI across DevSecOps workflows improves team collaboration and reduces the security and compliance risks of AI adoption.
GitLab's goal is to deliver a comprehensive suite of AI features that supports and provides value to all users involved in delivering software, from developers to non-technical team members.
Duo’s capabilities go beyond code generation to include: Suggested Reviewers, Code Suggestions, Chat, Vulnerability Summary, Code Explanation, Planning Discussions Summary, Merge Request Summary, Merge Request Template Population, Code Review Summary, Test Generation, Git Suggestions, Root Cause Analysis, Planning Description Generation, and Value Stream Forecasting.
Finalists:
The Azul Zulu Builds of OpenJDK for Java 21
LaunchDarkly Feature Management Platform
Application Performance/Observability
Winner: Cisco Observability Platform
The Cisco Observability Platform is a developer-ready system built on an open, extensible, scalable and flexible entity relationship data model that allows developers to build and extend data models and experiences to deliver relevant and impactful observability and business insights.
The platform gathers and correlates metric, event, log and trace data from multiple domains at scale, such as networking, security, applications, end user, cloud services and verticals, and leverages ML and AI capabilities to contextualize and correlate real-time telemetry across these domains. This functionality allows organizations to better gain visibility, insights and actions to improve digital experiences for customers, employees and end-users.
Finalists:
Nobl9 Reliability Center
vFunction Architectural Observability Platform
Artificial Intelligence
Winner: Cohesity Gaia
Cohesity Gaia is an AI-powered enterprise search assistant that brings retrieval augmented generation (RAG) AI and large language models (LLMs) to high-quality backup data within Cohesity environments.
The conversational AI assistant enables users to ask questions and receive answers by accessing and analyzing vast pools of enterprise data. When coupled with the Cohesity Data Cloud, these AI advancements transform data into knowledge and can help accelerate an organization’s goals while keeping data secure and compliant.
By building a RAG AI solution on Cohesity's multi-cloud platform, Gaia provides RAG AI conversational search experiences across cloud and hybrid environments, allowing enterprises to gain deeper insights into their data and make informed decisions, no matter where their stored data resides.
Finalists:
Atlassian Intelligence
ConnectWise Sidekick
Domino Data Lab Domino Enterprise
Fortinet FortiAI
HiddenLayer AI Detection & Response for GenAI
Red Hat OpenShift AI
SnapLogic SnapGPT
Business Intelligence & Data Analytics
Winner: Starburst Galaxy
Starburst Galaxy is a fully managed, end-to-end data lakehouse platform built on the open-source Trino SQL query engine and Apache Iceberg, known as Icehouse. It offers a solution for near real-time analytics, allowing customers to leverage the scalability, performance, and cost-effectiveness of Icehouse without the complexities of creating and maintaining a custom solution.
The platform supports data ingestion, governance, and Iceberg data management at scale, particularly in multi-cloud environments. It targets industries aiming to harness interactive applications and business intelligence, offering a user-friendly SQL interface for data optimization and live application integration, catering to a broad market that requires advanced data management and analytics capabilities.
Finalists:
Cloudera Open Data Lakehouse (1.7.9 release)
Zscaler Business Analytics
Cloud Tools/Management
Winner: Prosimo AI Suite for Multi-Cloud Networking
Prosimo’s AI Suite for Multi-Cloud Networking (MCN) is a full-stack, cloud-native platform that streamlines AI adoption for enterprises. The AI Suite enables organizations to utilize cloud-native connectivity for AI, helping teams deploy AI workloads faster. Prosimo's platform takes a full lifecycle approach, offering Multi-Cloud Networking for AI and Nebula, a conversational AI assistant enabling AIOps for MCN.
Multi-Cloud Networking for AI provides the core connectivity, security, and infrastructure for AI workloads, including: end-to-end private connectivity for seamless data access distribution, deep observability to detect abnormal behaviors across the stack, enhanced enterprise-level security for AI services, and application-driven routing for request-aware steering.
Nebula enhances observability, monitoring, and troubleshooting with predictive recommendations and accelerated root-cause analysis.
Finalists:
Alkira Extranet-as-a-Service
Quest Software Foglight Cloud
Tangoe One Cloud
Data and Information Management
Winner: Cribl Lake
Cribl Lake is a turnkey data lake solution designed to provide IT and security teams with complete control and flexibility over their data. Provisioned directly from Cribl.Cloud, organizations collect, analyze and route a complete view of all IT and security data across the enterprise, streamlining workflows and providing value within minutes.
Cribl Lake's unified management layer allows organizations to leverage low-cost object storage, either Cribl-managed or customer-owned, and automate provisioning, unify security and retention policies, and use open formats to eliminate vendor lock-in. Cribl Lake integrates with Cribl's suite of products including Ingest, Stream, Edge and Search.
Finalists:
Couchbase Capella
M-Files Aino
Nasuni File Data Platform
Promethium Data Fabric
Tessell Database-as-a-Service
Data Protection, Management and Resiliency
Winner: Veeam Data Platform
Built on the principles of data security, recovery and freedom, the Veeam Data Platform 23H2 update includes advanced data security, malware detection, automated recovery, and hybrid cloud capabilities to keep businesses running even in the face of ransomware and cyberattacks.
As part of the update, Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1 further reduces incident response time with proactive threat hunting for backups, integration with SIEM platforms, and YARA rules for ransomware pattern detection.
Beyond the platform updates, the new Veeam Data Cloud is built on Microsoft Azure and Zero Trust principles and leverages Azure Blob Storage isolated from production environments. This all-in-one service includes backup software, infrastructure and storage, keeping costs low and predictable while simplifying management.
Finalists:
Enterprise Control for Backblaze Computer Backup
Commvault Cloud powered by Metallic AI
HYCU R-Cloud
Infinidat InfiniSafe Cyber Detection
Displays
Winner: Hisense USA 75MR6DE GoBoard Live
The New 75MR6DE GoBoard Live display features Google certification, Android 13 operating system and an integrated 4K camera. Hisense Interactive Display solutions deliver unrivalled performance and market leading value. Combining the power of a digital display, tablet, electronic whiteboard and video conference device, Hisense delivers the ultimate all-in-one display solution. Superior processors and the latest touch technology provide best-in-class user experiences while seamless wireless integration makes collaboration both simple and engaging.
Finalists:
Hisense USA 100BM66D
Edge Computing/Internet of Things
Winner: Red Hat Device Edge
Red Hat Device Edge aggregates an enterprise-ready and supported distribution of the Red Hat-led open-source community project MicroShift (a lightweight Kubernetes project derived from the edge capabilities of Red Hat OpenShift) along with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, providing more consistent Day One and Day Two management of hundreds to thousands of sites and devices.
Red Hat Device Edge is targeted at partners and customers looking for a consistent platform for resource-constrained environments that require small form factor compute at the device edge, including Internet of Things gateways, industrial controllers, smart displays, point of sales terminals, vending machines, robots, in space and more.
Finalists:
Expanso Bacalhau
Radix IoT Mango 5.1
Scale Computing Autonomous Infrastructure Management Engine
Thinaer Sonar
Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure
Winner: Dell APEX Cloud Platforms
Dell Technologies’ APEX Cloud Platforms are turnkey systems that integrate Dell infrastructure, automated management and operations software, and cloud operating stacks to deliver consistent multi-cloud operations by extending cloud operating environments on-premises.
APEX systems are collaboratively developed with partners, including Microsoft and Red Hat, to deliver: choice for the cloud ecosystem that best meets needs without being constrained by operational considerations; adaptability while protecting investments with common infrastructure building blocks; productivity using familiar operational and developer experiences regardless of cloud; operational excellence with automated management and operations software that delivers consistent outcomes across every ecosystem; and control using a shared, storage layer that spans multiple ecosystems and locations.
Finalists:
Broadcom VMware Cloud Foundation
Flexera One IT Visibility
SoftIron HyperCloud
IT Automation/RPA
Winner: ConnectWise RPA
Robotic process automation (RPA) uses software robots to automate individual, repetitive tasks that usually require human access. RPA bots can mimic human actions such as button clicks, text box fills, and file path updates. ConnectWise has custom-built RPA for MSPs. With ConnectWise RPA, MSPs can drastically enhance a team's productivity and customer satisfaction. Sixty-six percent of knowledge workers say that automation has helped them be more productive, and 90 percent say that automation has improved their lives in the workplace. ConnectWise says it is bringing RPA to partners in an actionable way so they can achieve more with automation.
Finalists:
Gluware (5.1, 5.2 and 5.3)
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
IT Infrastructure Monitoring and Management
Winner: Nexthink Flow
Nexthink Flow is a powerful orchestration engine for end-user computing that bridges the gap between monitoring and management with its real-time, automated workflows.
Nexthink Flow combines AI-powered data with a low-code orchestration engine to continuously optimize complex workflows, monitor progress, handle exceptions, and ensure that all tasks are completed as intended.
With Nexthink Flow EUC teams can: achieve proactive IT with real-time event monitoring and workflow triggering; improve productivity with a low-code visual designer; save time with less powershell coding and manual intervention: resolve complex issues using smart automations with built-in logic and decision making; and cut costs with software license reclamation and hardware refresh use cases using third-party API connectors.
Finalists:
ConnectWise Automate
NetBrain Next-Gen V11
Netwrix 1Secure
Laptops and Mobile Devices
Winner: HP Elite x360 1040 14-inch G11 2-in-1 Notebook PC
The HP Elite x360 1040 G11 is designed for users seeking to excel anywhere, any time with maximum performance optimized for AI experiences and seamless collaboration in a safe, secure PC that is thin, lightweight, and sleek.
Featuring an Intel Core Ultra processor with a NPU, the device powers AI-enabled intelligent performance while optimizing power usage to help ensure the PC stays cool and quiet. Four Poly Studio tuned speakers and SNR studio microphones ensure comfort and clarity during virtual collaboration with AI noise reduction, dynamic voice leveling, and studio mode recording. HP Wolf Security for Business provides a hardware-enforced, always-on, resilient defense to protect the PC from modern threats.
Finalists:
Acer TravelMate P2 14
Panasonic Toughbook 55 Mk3
MSP RMM Platforms
Winner: ConnectWise Asio Platform
ConnectWise Asio is a modern, scalable, and secure cloud-based platform purpose-built for MSPs. It leverages centralized data and common services, including ticketing, contacts, and alerting. A generative AI engine and an orchestration layer support the delivery of hyperautomation and productivity for MSPs.
Centralizing data puts AI at the center of the platform, creating insights and automation that span products in ways decoupled solutions never could. Hyperautomation empowers organizations to rapidly identify, vet, and automate as many business and IT processes as possible. Workflow orchestration allows for process automation across many integrated products and prescriptive AI allows learning models to predict what will happen and proactively suggest solutions or auto-remediate.
Finalists:
Guardz AI-Powered Multilayered Cybersecurity Platform
HP Managed Print Service Subscription
Moovila Perfect Project
Thread
Multifunction Printers
Winner: HP Color LaserJet Pro 3000 series
Designed for customers that require high-performance printing in a small footprint, the new Color LaserJet 3000 series is the latest device powered by energy efficient TerraJet toner technology, enabling sharper colors and fast print speeds for growing businesses. The series introduces both a single-function and multifunction devices for all the varying print needs.
Finalists:
Epson SureColor T5770DM 36-inch Large-Format Multifunction CAD/Technical Printer
Networking – Enterprise
Winner: Nile Access Service
Nile Access Service delivers campus wired and wireless LAN as a cloud-native service, powered by a new approach to enterprise AI networking that is within reach for all businesses, whether they have five people or 50,000.
This model combines cloud-native software delivery, AI and automation, zero trust networking security, and custom-built wired, wireless, and sensor network infrastructure in an "as-a-Service" offering. Unlike legacy Network-as-a-Service products, Nile Access Service was built from the ground up with powerful AI applications to automate and orchestrate traditionally manual network operations.
It offers a standardized system design, a single data store, and an integrated software stack to deliver guaranteed performance, coverage, capacity, and availability for wired and wireless LAN connectivity.
Finalists:
Aryaka Unified SASE-as-a-Service
ExtremeCloud SD-WAN
F5 rSeries r12900-DS
Meter DNS Security
Networking – SMB
Winner: Aryaka Unified SASE-as-a-Service
Aryaka's Unified SASE-as-a-Service leverges four design elements: Aryaka OnePass Architecture, which enables distributed policy enforcement through a distributed data plane, unified control plane and single management pane; Aryaka Zero Trust WAN, which traverses Aryaka's global private network backbone in over 100 countries; comprehensive networking, security and observability, including the Aryaka SmartSecure next-generation firewall with secure web gateway, anti-malware and intrusion prevention system; and flexible delivery that allows businesses to choose their preferred delivery (Aryaka or third-party) and implementation (managed, co-managed or self-managed).
Customer benefits include reduced network attack surface and risk with integrated network security, and cost-effective network performance, security and operations due to "as a service" economics, flexibility and simplicity.
Finalists:
Zyxel Networks XMG1930-30HP 24-Port 2.5G Multi-Gig Lite-L3 Smart Managed PoE++/PoE+ Switch with 6 10G Uplink
Networking – Wireless
Winner: Zyxel Networks WBE660S BE22000 WiFi 7 Triple-Radio NebulaFlex Pro Access Point
Zyxel Networks says the WBE660S BE22000 WiFi 7 Triple-Radio NebulaFlex Pro Access Point is the first WiFi 7 access point with a Smart Antenna for MSPs and SMBs. WBE660S combines the most advanced Wi-Fi standard with the most advanced antenna technology to deliver an outstanding Wi-Fi experience in high-density environments such as offices, classrooms, and airports.
While Smart Antenna technology intelligently shapes antenna patterns to mitigate interference, Zyxel's exclusive RF-first design incorporates Advanced RF Filter and Advanced Cellular Coexistence technologies to minimize interference from adjacent Wi-Fi channels and 4G/5G mobile networks. The enterprise-grade WiFi 7 Access Point delivers speeds up to five times faster than WiFi 6/6E solutions, providing seamless, latency-free connectivity to optimize high-bandwidth applications.
Finalists:
Cisco Spaces (“AP Auto Locate” feature)
Fortinet FortiAP-441K
Power Protection and Management
Winner: CyberPower Smart App Sinewave Lithium UPS Series (PRL1500RT2UC and PRL3000RT2UC)
The Smart App Sinewave Lithium UPS series is the next generation of cloud-enabled UPS systems for powering and protecting corporate, networking, and telecom applications. Lithium battery backup technology translates to lighter weight, longer run times, and a product life of up to eight-to-10 years. Integrated PowerPanel Cloud technology makes it easy to monitor power status of the UPS and connected equipment from anywhere there is an internet connection.
Finalists:
Eaton 9PX 6kVA lithium-ion UPS
Schneider Electric EcoStruxure IT
SD-WAN
Winner: Zscaler Zero Trust SD-WAN (SASE)
Zscaler Zero Trust SASE builds on the industry's leading AI-powered security service edge (SSE) platform with a fresh approach to SD-WAN that securely and reliably connects users, locations, and cloud services via the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange. Zero Trust SASE provides least-privileged access for users, devices, workloads, and business partners in managed offices, eliminating the need for complex and costly network-based security that fails to prevent security breaches. Remote workers, who are already cared for with the Zscaler Client Connector on their devices, represent only a fraction of a customers' total attack surface. Zscaler SASE adds Zero Trust SD-WAN access through a virtual or physical gateway for workloads, IoT/OT devices and business partners at managed locations.
Finalists:
FortiGate Rugged 70G with 5G Dual Modem, powered by Fortinet Secure SD-WAN
Security: Cloud and Application Security
Winner: Snyk AppRisk
Snyk AppRisk is an Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) solution that empowers AppSec managers by minimizing risk and improving developer productivity. Snyk AppRisk delivers automated application asset discovery, tailored security controls and risk-based prioritization.
The ASPM solution allows for seamless collaboration between developer and security teams to better address cybersecurity challenges, while also providing C-Suite stakeholders with visibility into software supply chain risk posture.
Snyk AppRisk also complements the Snyk Developer Security Platform by providing a holistic, developer-first ASPM workbench that aims to improve the overall security posture for developers so they can focus on fixes that reduce the most critical business risks.
Finalists:
Cisco Multicloud Defense
CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security
Lacework Code Security
Orca Cloud Security Platform (CNAPP)
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud (Darwin Launch)
Qualys TotalCloud2.0
Tenable Cloud Security
Security: Data Security
Winner: Deep Instinct Prevention for Storage
Deep Instinct Prevention for Storage (DPS) applies a prevention-first approach to cybersecurity, filling gaps in data security using a deep learning framework. Files added or changed in NAS or cloud storage environments, even large volumes, are scanned in real time without impacting system performance. Malicious files are eliminated or quarantined, pre-execution, before harm can be done.
DPS provides a holistic approach to storage security across on-premises and public clouds. This is crucial as the amount of data being stored in these environments grows exponentially. While cloud vendors protect the storage itself, they do not ensure the integrity or safety of files stored as DPS does.
Finalists:
BigID AI Remediation Recommendations
Forcepoint ONE Data Security
Sentra’s LLM-powered classification engine
Security: Email and Web Security
Winner: Abnormal Security QR Code Detector
Abnormal Security now provides capabilities to detect QR codes in emails and parse their corresponding links, strengthening protection against evolving email attacks.
The new models are designed to determine when an email contains a QR code within the body of the email or in image/PDF attachments. The platform parses the QR code's embedded link and employs NLP to detect topics, tone, and sentiment commonly associated with social engineering attacks, including urgency and formality.
These extracted signals are combined with Abnormal's behavioral analysis across the broader email and SaaS environment. The platform already analyzes tens of thousands of signals across these environments to understand normal business relationships and communication patterns, allowing it to pinpoint unusual (malicious) behavior.
Finalists:
Menlo Security Secure Cloud Browser
SlashNext Email+ Security
Trustifi Security Awareness module
Security: Endpoint Security
Winner: Sophos Intercept X
Sophos Intercept X defends more than 300,000 organizations worldwide against advanced attacks with anti-ransomware, anti-exploitation, behavioral analysis, and other innovative technologies. It provides multiple layers of security for unparalleled protection against known and unknown threats.
New context-sensitive defenses in Intercept X are revolutionizing endpoint security. Defenses include Critical Attack Warning, launched in September 2023, which detects and notifies organizations of high-impact indicators of in-progress attacks, and Adaptive Attack Protection, also introduced in 2023, which automatically disrupts in-progress attacks, giving defenders valuable time to respond.
Intercept X is powered by threat intelligence from Sophos X-Ops and is part of the Sophos Adaptive Cybersecurity Ecosystem and shares real-time threat intelligence for improved detection, protection, and response.
Finalists:
Cisco Secure Endpoint
ControlUp Secure DX
ESET Protect Elite
Tanium Converged Endpoint Management (XEM)
WatchGuard Advanced EPDR
Security: Identity Security
Winner: CyberArk Secure Cloud Access
New security controls for CyberArk Secure Cloud Access secure access to every layer of cloud environments, while causing no disruption or change to the way developers and others access cloud services.
New capabilities include the ability to identify IAM misconfiguration risks in multi-cloud environments; context-based, automatic approval workflows for high-risk access to cloud services that can be easily customized to meet governance objectives via no-code identity orchestration and automation capabilities within the CyberArk platform; and integration with IT Service Management and ChatOps to facilitate greater adoption from engineers and allow cloud security teams to quickly and securely approve time-sensitive access requests in service outages.
Finalists:
1Password Enterprise Password Manager
BeyondTrust Identity Security Insights
ConnectWise Access Management
Veza Access Control Platform
Xage Multi-Layer Identity and Access Management
Security: Managed Detection and Response
Winner: CrowdStrike Falcon XDR Platform
The CrowdStrike Falcon XDR platform is a powerful, capable and innovative cybersecurity platform that delivers market-leading security to the endpoint and beyond within organizations of all sizes. Customers are consolidating with CrowdStrike because the AI-native CrowdStrike Falcon XDR platform brings industry-leading EDR outcomes to all key security domains and makes it easy to expand protection beyond the endpoint to defend cloud, mobile, identity and data using the same lightweight agent and command console.
Finalists:
Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response
Blackpoint Cyber Dark Web Monitoring
Cisco XDR
Expel Vulnerability Prioritization
Huntress MDR for Microsoft 365
Secureworks Taegis ManagedXDR
Sophos Managed Detection and Response
Security: Network Security – Enterprise
Winner: Palo Alto Networks Strata Cloud Manager
Palo Alto Networks takes a fundamentally different approach with Strata Cloud Manager, an AI-powered Zero Trust management and operations solution. It revolutionizes network security management and operations, proactively preventing network disruptions and strengthening security in real-time across all enforcement points. Security teams can achieve comprehensive visibility and management for all deployments in a single user interface, strengthen security in real-time, and predict and prevent network disruptions.
The target market is enterprises, SMBs and MSSPs with a network security system. Specific use cases include net-new Palo Alto Networks customers that don't need an on-premises management solution and SASE customers who want to expand or connect to a data center.
Finalists:
Armis Centrix
Cisco Cyber Vision
Fortinet FortiGuard Attack Surface Security Service
Infoblox BloxOne Threat Defense – SOC Insights
SonicWall NSsp Series
Security: Network Security – SMB
Winner: Zyxel Networks USG FLEX 700H Security Firewall Appliance
Zyxel Networks USG FLEX 700H Security Firewall Appliance is a Unified Threat Management (UTM) firewall that delivers 2.5G WAN performance for under $2,000. As multi-gigabit Internet becomes more widely available to SMBs, USG FLEX 700H makes it feasible for businesses to harness that performance while maintaining uncompromised high-speed network security.
The high-performance firewall combines ultra-fast firewall/UTM/VPN throughput, powerful multi-gigabit and PoE+ interfaces, and advanced best-of-breed network security to provide multi-layered protection against cyber threats. It supports enhanced SecuExtender to extend enterprise-grade security to remote networks while providing a 30W PoE power budget option that simplifies deployment of devices such as WiFi 6E access points, IP Cameras, VoIP Phones and 5G routers.
Security: Security Operations Platform
Winner: Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSIAM 2.0
Cortex XSIAM (extended security intelligence and automation management) is the AI-driven security operations platform for the modern SOC, harnessing the power of AI to simplify security operations, stop threats at scale, and accelerate incident remediation. It reduces risk and operational complexity by centralizing multiple products into a single, coherent platform.
XSIAM unifies security operations functions including EDR, XDR, SOAR, ASM, UEBA, TIP, and SIEM. It centralizes all security data and uses machine learning data models designed specifically for security. Organizations can automate data integration, analysis, and response actions, enabling analysts to focus on the incidents that matter and allow them to work on threat hunting and proactive threat intelligence.
Finalists:
Adlumin Ransomware Prevention
Exabeam Threat Center and Exabeam Copilot
Securonix EON for Unified Defense SIEM
Sevco Security
SonicWall Network Security Manager
WatchGuard Cloud
Security: Security Service Edge
Winner: Zscaler Zero Trust SASE
Zscaler Zero Trust SASE builds on the company's AI-powered security service edge (SSE) platform with a fresh approach to SD-WAN that securely and reliably connects users, locations, and cloud services via the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange.
Zero Trust SASE provides least-privileged access for users, devices, workloads, and business partners in managed offices, eliminating the need for complex and costly network-based security. Remote workers with the Zscaler Client Connector on their devices represent only a fraction of our customers' total attack surface. Zscaler SASE adds Zero Trust SD-WAN access through a virtual or physical gateway for workloads, IoT/OT devices and business partners at managed locations, requiring only an internet connection.
Finalists:
Barracuda SecureEdge
Cisco Secure Access
Fortinet FortiSASE
Skyhigh Security Service Edge Portfolio
Storage – Cloud
Winner: Infinidat InfuzeOS, Cloud Edition
InfuzeOS powers Infinidat's unique software-defined storage (SDS) architecture. It drives the performance, availability, cyber storage resilience, ease of use, and economic benefits of Infinidat storage platforms InfiniBox, InfiniBox SSA, and InfiniGuard. InfuzeOS' SDS architecture delivers powerful capabilities without dependence on proprietary hardware or components.
InfuzeOS Cloud Edition delivers InfiniBox platform experience on public cloud compute and storage resources. It is functionally equivalent to the on-premises InfuzeOS that enables InfiniBox platforms. Amazon Web Services is the first supported public cloud platform to deploy InfuzeOS Cloud Edition in a single node, allowing customers to deploy a full version of InfuzeOS that resides in their AWS environment. In May support for Microsoft Azure clouds was announced.
Finalists:
Dell APEX Block Storage for Public Cloud
NetApp Google Cloud NetApp Volumes
Titan Cloud Storage, S3-Compatible Cloud Storage
Storage – Enterprise
Winner: Quantum ActiveScale Z200 All-Flash Object Storage
Quantum's ActiveScale Z200 All-Flash Object Storage with Cold Storage capabilities combines advanced object storage software, high density all-flash servers, and hyperscale tape technology, providing an advanced solution for data lakes and storage clouds with high performance, durability, and storage efficiency.
The Z200 is a scale-out object storage architecture built for the AI era, 'always available' access and massive scale - efficiently storing billions of objects from terabytes to exabytes. The Z200 delivers up to 5X greater throughput (GB/s) and up to 9X more transactions (obj/s) to support high throughput ingest and AI pipelines. The solution is intended for organizations that require high-performance analysis, fast data retrieval, and long-term data preservation.
Finalists:
Dell PowerScale (OneFS 9.8 software, F210 & F710 all-flash lineup)
Dell PowerStore 3.6
MinIO Enterprise Object Storage
Nexsan Unity NV6000
Unified Communications and Collaboration – Enterprise
Winner: RingCentral RingCX
RingCX is a native and proprietary AI-first contact center solution that's simple to use and easy to deploy. Available as a standalone product or integrated with RingCentral's unified communications platform, RingCX offers omnichannel capabilities across voice and digital in a single pane of glass. RingCX seamlessly connects with leading CRMs and workforce engagement management tools. AI-generated call summaries and conversational analytics turn agents into customer superheroes, freeing them up to handle more complex customer cases.
Built on RingCentral's secure and reliable global network, RingCX meets compliance standards for complex verticals. RingCX provides smarter customer experiences, with a lower total cost of ownership compared to traditional contact center options.
Finalists:
Bright Pattern AI-Powered Interaction Analytics
Logitect Sight
Zoom AI Companion
Unified Communications and Collaboration – SMB
Winner: Cisco Webex Customer Experience Essentials
Cisco Webex Customer Experience Essentials is an innovative contact center solution that seamlessly integrates calling and contact center functionalities within the Webex App. Designed for both agents and supervisors, it provides essential capabilities without the complexity of advanced solutions. It's ideal for Webex Calling customers across various sectors such as enterprise help desks, pharmacies, insurance agencies, and healthcare clinics seeking to enhance customer engagement.
At its core, the solution offers easy configuration via Webex Control Hub, real-time and historical data views, agent and queue management, and URL screen pops for efficient customer interaction. It empowers customer engagement teams beyond traditional contact centers, removing communication barriers and providing comprehensive analytics for data-driven decision-making.
Finalists:
8x8’s Proactive Outreach and Video Elevation for 8x8 Contact Center
Intermedia Spark AI
Nimble CRM Webforms
Virtualization/Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
Winner: Parallels DaaS
Parallels DaaS launched January 30, 2024, as a cloud-native solution for Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS), granting users secure and immediate access to their virtual desktops and applications. Its unique architecture fortifies security and functionality; simplifies the administrative complexities of deploying, configuring, and maintaining a cloud environment; and offers an exceptional user experience accessible from any device with a modern HTML5-based web browser.
Administrators connect their company's Microsoft Azure subscription to host resources. They are then provided with an intuitive, simple, modern Web-based management portal for all Parallels DaaS configuration and management. At a glance they can see registered users, published resources, running virtual machines, and active user sessions, amongst other things.
Finalists:
Nerdio Manager for Enterprise: Unified Application Management (UAM)