CRN's 2016 Products Of The Year

Products of the Year

For the first time, the judging for the 2016 Products Of The Year went directly to those who work with them to solve problems for customers. To start, CRN editors selected five finalists among 17 technology categories and then asked solution providers to rate the products to determine a winner based on the subcategories of Technology, Revenue and Profit, and Customer Demand.

After a survey that netted more than 5,000 responses, here are the finalists and winners for each category.

CLOUD PLATFORMS

VMWARE CLOUD FOUNDATION

WINNER: OVERALL

With the aim of making private clouds easier to build and maintain, VMware launched Cloud Foundation through integrating several of its technologies -- ultimately making it possible to build a complete cloud in as little as a few hours. Cloud Foundation brings together VMware's vSphere and Virtual SAN hyper-converged software along with network virtualization via VMware NSX. The result is that Cloud Foundation "allows for scalability to accommodate future growth demands" while also providing an up to 8X reduction in installation time, said Eric Barnhart, vice president for Dell EMC and VMware Solutions at Phoenix-based Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas.

Deploying Cloud Foundation also can lead to up to a 40 percent reduction in total cost of ownership, Barnhart said.

CLOUD PLATFORMS

DOCKER DATACENTER

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: CUSTOMER DEMAND

Docker Datacenter is a Container-as-a-Service platform for managing the full life cycle of applications on cloud infrastructure, as well as physical or virtual infrastructure. The platform includes security, orchestration, policy and controls -- and features a simplified installation process.

CLOUD PLATFORMS

HPE CLOUD SUITE

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: REVENUE AND PROFIT

Developed for hybrid environments, Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Helion Cloud Suite brings together HPE's top IT operations management solutions with the cloud platforms OpenStack and Cloud Foundry. The end result is a better way to automate management of IT infrastructure.

CLOUD PLATFORMS

CITRIX XENSERVER 7

Finalist

With the latest release of virtualization platform XenServer, Citrix Systems adds new technology for protecting against security threats, which requires no agents within the guest operating system. The release also includes support for a storage protocol that's popular in Windows environments.

RED HAT CLOUD SUITE

Finalist

A collection of Red Hat's cloud technologies comes together in the Red Hat Cloud Suite. Red Hat's private cloud solutions, based on OpenStack, offer scalable infrastructure in combination with the company's OpenShift Platform-as-a-Service, which provides cloud-native application development and deployment.

CLOUD SERVICES

AMAZON ELASTIC FILE SYSTEM

WINNER: OVERALL

Amazon's Elastic File System is a scalable file system for the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), which features a simple-to-use interface for creation and configuration of file systems. The "elastic" in Elastic File System means that its storage capacity will expand and shrink -- automatically -- to ensure that applications have the right amount of storage at all times.

"Scalability, high performance and integration with AWS tools -- especially CloudFormation -- are the biggest benefits," said Jeff Aden, executive vice president of marketing and strategic development at Seattle-based 2nd Watch. "Not having to build custom solutions that we have to manage is always a better solution," he added.

CLOUD SERVICES

VIRTUSTREAM ENTERPRISE CLOUD, VMWARE NSX INTEGRATION

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: REVENUE AND PROFIT

Dell EMC-owned Virtustream expanded the usefulness of its cloud services offering with an integration of the VMware NSX network virtualization platform, making it easier for enterprises to connect their on-premise infrastructure to Virtustream's Enterprise Cloud.

CLOUD SERVICES

GOOGLE CLOUD LAUNCHER

Finalist

With Cloud Launcher, Google has enabled partners to more easily distribute software to their customers while also keeping products up to date after provisioning. In addition, customers can use Cloud Launcher to contact partners for support.

MICROSOFT AZURE CONTAINER SERVICE

Finalist

Azure Container Service is Microsoft's offering aimed at making it easier to use the cloud for running containerized applications. The service simplifies container orchestration by providing proven configurations, and it's all built on open-source software for maximum portability of workloads.

NTT COMMUNICATIONS ENTERPRISE CLOUD

Finalist

NTT Communications' overhauled version of its Enterprise Cloud includes the introduction of a multitenant cloud based on OpenStack open-source technology, enabling enterprise users to better control and automate their cloud deployments.

HYPER-CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE

NUTANIX FOR CISCO UCS

WINNER: OVERALL

The combination of Nutanix's Enterprise Cloud Platform software with Cisco's Unified Computing System (UCS) C-Series servers has brought a number of important capabilities -- including multiple hypervisor support and advanced data optimization -- to Cisco UCS customers. And Nutanix's Enterprise Cloud capabilities are tightly integrated with Cisco UCS servers to provide strong performance. The Nutanix for Cisco solution ultimately enables customers to more quickly and flexibly deploy new applications and services. "We see tremendous traction with UCS customers wanting to deploy the best-in-class hyper-converged infrastructure with Nutanix software," said Vinu Thomas, CTO of New York-based Presidio.

HYPER-CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE

SIMPLIVITY OMNICUBE CN-1400

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: REVENUE AND PROFIT

SimpliVity's OmniCube CN-1400 brings its hyper-converged system of server, storage and storage networking to organizations with remote offices. Specifically, the system frees organizations from having to provide on-site IT staff in part by using wide-area network links already in existence for data protection.

HYPER-CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE

CISCO HYPERFLEX

Finalist

Engineered entirely by Cisco Systems, HyperFlex offers networking, computing and storage integrated with unified management -- and features automation of application services through integration with Cisco's application-centric network services. Setup is made easier with a plug-and-play approach that can take as little as a few minutes.

HPE HYPER CONVERGED 380

Finalist

Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Hyper Converged 380 enables IT teams to simplify their operations with an operating system that's consumer-inspired. Compute and storage capacity can be added within 15 minutes, while the Management user interface for the Hyper Converged 380 automates numerous complex tasks.

VCE VXRAIL APPLIANCE

Finalist

Jointly engineered by Dell EMC and VMware, VxRail offers scalability and performance benefits -- not to mention ease of management -- thanks in part to being based on new software from VMware and leveraging EMC data services. VMware technologies brought together in VxRail include vSphere, vCenter Server and Virtual SAN.

INTERNET OF THINGS

INTEL JOULE

WINNER: OVERALL

Intel Joule is a compute module for Internet of Things developers as well as enterprises, enabling rapid prototyping of IoT devices. Joule is ideal for uses in the industrial IoT space such as cameras and machine vision, said Raymond Yin, director of technical content at Mouser Electronics. "It's got roughly the processing power of what would go into a smartphone, plus the interfaces -- both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth -- and the integration of audio and video interfaces," Yin said. "There are all these kinds of ways to be able to utilize that processing power, and it's available in something that's a little bigger than a stick of gum."

INTERNET OF THINGS

AMAZON WEB SERVICES IOT PLATFORM

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: CUSTOMER DEMAND

The IoT Platform from Amazon Web Services provides secure communication between IoT devices and the AWS cloud. Data can be collected from devices and then stored and analyzed using the platform, while the platform also aids users in creating applications for controlling the devices.

INTERNET OF THINGS

IBM WATSON IOT PLATFORM ANALYTICS

Finalist

Users of IBM Watson IoT Platform Analytics gain access to a number of Watson technologies -- including natural language processing, video and image analytics, text analytics and machine learning -- for purposes such as analyzing data collected from IoT devices.

MICROSOFT AZURE IOT HUB

Finalist

The Microsoft Azure IoT Hub is aimed at organizations looking to provision and manage Internet of Things devices, providing a connection between devices and cloud solutions. The Azure IoT Hub secures the communications and enables storage and analysis of gathered data in real time.

PTC THINGWORX 7

Finalist

With ThingWorx 7, PTC brings new features including enhanced tools for Internet of Things device management along with better support for public clouds and analytics. The platform is also simplified in order to speed up the prototyping of IoT devices.

LAPTOPS

SAMSUNG NOTEBOOK 9

WINNER: OVERALL

Samsung's Notebook 9 laptop "was designed with the mobile business professional in mind," said Bob Kane, senior vice president of product marketing at Tempe, Ariz.-based Insight Enterprises. Available in 13-inch or 15-inch versions, the laptop features an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and weighs just 1.9 pounds for the smaller model and 2.9 pounds for the larger version. The Notebook 9 is also among the thinnest laptops on the market, at 0.53 or 0.57 of an inch thick, depending on the size. "It's lightweight and portable, but doesn't compromise on power or functionality with its high-quality displays, long-lasting battery life, and maximized connectivity," Kane said.

LAPTOPS

APPLE MACBOOK 2016

Finalist

Apple's first major update to the 12-inch MacBook added Intel's sixth-generation Core M processors and faster graphics performance with Intel HD Graphics 515. The update also brought an extra hour of battery life and faster flash storage.

DELL LATITUDE 13 7370

Finalist

Dell's Latitude 7370 is a laptop for business that combines durability with major portability -- it's just 0.56 of an inch thick and weighs 2.48 pounds. Its small bezel and body design -- a black exterior made from aerospace-grade carbon fiber -- are also high points.

HP SPECTRE 13

Finalist

HP's Spectre 13 has stood out in part for being the thinnest new laptop on the market, at 0.41 of an inch. But the Spectre 13 manages to combine that thin profile with an overall luxury design and a fast processor, with Intel's Core i5 or i7 available.

LENOVO YOGA 900S

Finalist

At a half-inch thick and weighing just 2.2 pounds, Lenovo's Yoga 900S brings a high degree of portability combined with a 12.5-inch touch-screen display. And that display can fold part of the way back -- or all of the way back -- thanks to the signature Yoga watchband hinge.

NETWORKING

HPE-ARUBA 330 SERIES WAVE 2

ACCESS POINTS

WINNER: OVERALL

With the 330 Series, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, has developed 802.11ac Wave 2 access points that meet the goal of delivering a ubiquitous wireless experience at high rates to end users, said Bill Buckalew, chief operating officer at Malvern, Pa.-based Comm Solutions. The access points can scale up to 5 Gbps Ethernet and leverage Aruba ClientMatch software to group Wave 2 users together and create a more efficient network. Access point technology "has a lot of decisions to make, a lot of demands placed upon it. … Aruba's done that very well [with the 330 Series]," Buckalew said. "This is a meaningful incremental step in their product line."

NETWORKING

ARISTA 7500R SERIES

Finalist

Featuring the new Universal Spine architecture, Arista Networks' 7500R modular switches come with 115 TBps fabric and up to 432 100-GB Ethernet ports for high performance. The system also combines routing, with new FlexRoute software, that can accommodate up to 1 million Internet routes.

CISCO NEXUS 9000 SWITCHES

Finalist

Cisco's new next-gen Nexus 9000 switches include 100-Gbps performance paired with a lower cost and power usage than that of past systems. The switches also work in concert with cloud services for better control over capacity and congestion.

JUNIPER EX SERIES SWITCHES

Finalist

The latest EX Series access switches from Juniper Networks include 10-GB Ethernet uplinks for meeting the high bandwidth demands of cloud and video, along with an option for a "Virtual Chassis" configuration for simplifying operations.

RUCKUS WIRELESS ZONEFLEX R310 ACCESS POINT

Finalist

Aimed at small businesses, Ruckus' ZoneFlex R310 is an 802.11ac access point available for entry-level pricing (and in a small form factor). The R310 offers strong performance with concurrent dual-band (5GHz/2.4GHz) support and can serve up to 100 users at a time.

PRINTERS

HP PAGEWIDE ENTERPRISE COLOR SERIES

WINNER: OVERALL (TIE)

HP's PageWide Enterprise Color series of printers includes features such as fast print speeds -- up to 75 pages per minute -- but maybe even more importantly, the printers offer the holy grail of "affordable color," said Matthew Schotten, vice president of managed print solutions at Oklahoma City, Okla.-based ImageNet Consulting. That affordability is achieved in part through strong reliability, requiring less labor and parts, Schotten said, "and we're able to translate that into a cost savings for the customer." The PageWide Enterprise Color series also "has the management tools to really restrict or manage that color as much as you would like," he said.

HP OFFICEJET PRO 8700 ALL-IN-ONE PRINTER

WINNER: OVERALL (TIE)

Aimed at small businesses, HP's OfficeJet Pro 8700 series offers high-performing, all-in-one printers in a compact form factor. Print speeds of up to 24 pages per minute are available, as is two-sided printing. Printing can be done from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, while the 8700 printers are also able to scan documents directly to email, the cloud and network folders. Other features include print device configuration and management through HP Web Jetadmin software.

PRINTERS

EPSON WORKFORCE PRO WF-M5694 MULTIFUNCTION PRINTER

Finalist

With the WorkForce Pro WF-M5694, Epson has developed a multifunction printer for small networked groups that comes with a 10,000-page cartridge yield and low-cost monochrome printing features. IT admin tools such as network configuration and security also are included.

XEROX WORKCENTRE 3335/3345 MULTIFUNCTION PRINTERS

Finalist

Xerox's WorkCentre 3335/3345 multifunction printers add improved print speeds -- 35 to 42 pages per minute -- and an optional second paper tray (with room for 550 sheets), along with productivity tools such as scanning to email and printing from the cloud.

XEROX I-SERIES PRINTERS

Finalist

The newest i-Series multifunction printers from Xerox are enabled with the company's ConnectKey Technology for accelerating business processes using apps. The Xerox Easy Translation Service app, for instance, translates documents scanned by the printer into 42 languages.

SECURITY -- CLOUD AND APPLICATION

NETSKOPE ACTIVE THREAT PROTECTION

WINNER: OVERALL

With Active Threat Protection, cloud access security broker Netskope has developed a threat protection solution that supports a "holistic approach that includes people, process and technology," said JD Sherry, vice president of cloud security and strategy at Denver-based Optiv. The product provides customers with a comprehensive view of how their cloud apps are being used, ultimately enabling detection, analysis and remediation of threats in real time. The proliferation of unsanctioned cloud apps "has forced IT to fly blind" in setting proactive security policies, Sherry said. "It's important for organizations to have visibility into the business' cloud app usage data, and technologies like Netskope help address that need."

SECURITY -- CLOUD AND APPLICATION

ZSCALER PRIVATE ACCESS

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: TECHNOLOGY

As an alternative to VPN gateways, Zscaler Private Access provides remote users with on-demand access to specific applications -- which is more secure than VPN because it reduces the potential attack surface. Meanwhile, the offering doesn't require hardware infrastructure.

SECURITY -- CLOUD AND APPLICATION

BLUE COAT SECURITY PLATFORM (NOW OWNED BY SYMANTEC)

Finalist

Leveraging cloud security access broker technologies, the Blue Coat Security Platform includes offerings such as a way to discover and control shadow IT -- using a real-time data feed from the usage (and the risk) of unsanctioned cloud apps.

CLOUDLOCK ADAPTIVE SECURITY PLATFORM (NOW OWNED BY CISCO)

Finalist

CloudLock's Adaptive Security Platform provides a number of capabilities aimed at halting threats originating in the cloud. Those include threat intelligence feeds, cloud vulnerability insight (gleaned from behavior and incidents across cloud applications), community-sourced analysis of cloud applications and cybersecurity research.

OKTA API ACCESS MANAGEMENT

Finalist

Aimed at businesses that are developing software and sharing data with partners, Okta's API Access Management provides a central location for maintaining a single identity and set of permissions. That allows organizations to handle their API access policies in a consistent (and secure) manner.

SECURITY -- ENDPOINT

PALO ALTO NETWORKS TRAPS

WINNER: OVERALL

The latest version of Palo Alto Networks' Traps "represents a milestone in endpoint protection" through features including static analysis, which provides an instant verdict on a never-before-seen file to declare it malicious or benign, said Bill Mertz, chief operating officer at Tulsa, Okla.-based Norlem. "Static analysis works whether the endpoint is online or offline, with no changes to its effectiveness," Mertz said. The new version of Traps also provides updated exploit prevention and assistance with fulfilling key compliance requirements, he said. "Traps is successfully stopping zero-day malware as well as zero-day exploits in the wild at our customers," Mertz said.

SECURITY -- ENDPOINT

FIREEYE HX 3.1 WITH EXPLOIT GUARD ENDPOINT SECURITY

Finalist

Exploit Guard -- a part of FireEye's HX 3.1 -- uses behavioral analysis and machine intelligence to assess endpoint activities and detect exploits. The technology accomplishes this due to FireEye's sizable database of core exploit types, which are then correlated with endpoint activities.

MCAFEE MOVE ANTIVIRUS 4.0

Finalist

McAfee's newest version of MOVE -- Management for Optimized Virtual Environments -- brings improvements around speed of threat detection and coordination of threat defense across security offerings. It also lets users leverage the McAfee Threat Intelligence Exchange for analyzing the behavior of unknown applications.

SOPHOS INTERCEPT X

Finalist

Sophos' Intercept X provides capabilities including enhanced detection, via signature-less threat and exploit detection, as well blocking of ransomware with CryptoGuard. Other capabilities include root cause analysis (for mapping attacks) and Sophos Clean (to clean up spyware and malware).

SYMANTEC ADVANCED THREAT PROTECTION

Finalist

To enable customers in their battle against advanced persistent threats, Symantec developed Advanced Threat Protection to let a number of different offerings work in harmony. Those include Symantec's threat intelligence network, its remediation service Symantec Cynic, and its detection tool Symantec Synapse.

SECURITY -- NETWORK

FORTINET SECURITY FABRIC

WINNER: OVERALL

Security Fabric brings together technologies including Fortinet's Advanced Threat Protection Framework -- for deep inspection of traffic and generation of threat intelligence -- ultimately enabling customers to rapidly mitigate threats. "What I like about the products in Security Fabric is how well they all work together, and how easy they are to control and to really get full utilization of," said Peter Kujawa, division president of Onalaska, Wis.-based EO Johnson – Locknet Managed IT Services. "Rather than having different panes of glass for every one of their product sets, and having all of their products function individually, Fortinet has done a great job of building products that have tremendous interoperability," he said.

SECURITY -- NETWORK

PALO ALTO NETWORKS PAN-OS 7.1

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: TECHNOLOGY

PAN-OS 7.1 adds Microsoft Azure and Hyper-V support for the Palo Alto Networks VM-Series firewall. PAN-OS 7.1 also goes further in its enablement of secure Office 365 deployments and in its prevention of zero-day malware targeting Apple PCs.

SECURITY -- NETWORK

SONICWALL CAPTURE ADVANCED THREAT PROTECTION

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: CUSTOMER DEMAND

Focused on protecting small and midsize businesses, SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is targeted at stopping zero-day attacks. The offering includes sandboxes not just from SonicWall, but also from Lastline, to provide multiple layers of defense.

SECURITY -- NETWORK

FORCEPOINT SUREVIEW INSIDER THREAT 8.0

Finalist

With SureView Insider Threat 8.0, Forcepoint provides an early warning system about an organization's most risky users. The technology does so not just based on the users' behavior, but also by leveraging Forcepoint's data loss prevention offering, Triton AP-Data.

KASPERSKY ANTI-TARGETED ATTACK PLATFORM

Finalist

Kaspersky Lab's Anti-Targeted Attack Platform provides actionable threat intelligence by collecting data from the network and other sources, and sending the data into an advanced sandbox for detection of threats. The platform also features targeted attack analysis technology for threat assessment.

SECURITY -- WEB AND EMAIL

SOPHOS EMAIL

WINNER: OVERALL

Sophos Email includes technologies such as Sophos' threat protection engine alongside context-specific heuristics for threat detection. Sophos Email represents an advancement in part because it has become part of the cloud-based Sophos Central management platform, said Dan Russell, chief technology officer at Bozeman, Mont.-based Pine Cove Consulting. "Being able to port [email security] into the Sophos Central offering is a big thing," Russell said. "We're doing endpoint protection, server, wireless protection -- all things built into Central. Now being able to manage [customers'] email within the same single pane of glass is absolutely huge for us."

SECURITY -- WEB AND EMAIL

APPRIVER CIPHERPOST PRO

Finalist

The latest version of AppRiver's CipherPost Pro email encryption platform includes the introduction of a secure e-signature offering for emails, which can replace the need for paper signatures. The offering can be integrated into web clients such as Microsoft Outlook and Office 365.

BARRACUDA NETWORKS BARRACUDA ESSENTIALS FOR OFFICE 365

Finalist

With Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, Barracuda Networks brings protection against known malware, viruses and spam of the same caliber available in on-premise Office deployments. Barracuda Essentials also offers detection of ransomware and zero-day threats.

MIMECAST TARGETED THREAT PROTECTION

Finalist

An update to Mimecast's Targeted Threat Protection has added Impersonation Protect, a feature for stopping whaling email attacks, which mainly target C-level corporate executives. Using advanced scanning, Impersonation Protect identifies common elements of whaling attacker emails and enables IT teams to either block those emails or provide added security warnings.

PROOFPOINT EMAIL PROTECTION

Finalist

Proofpoint's latest update to its Email Protection platform introduces technology for classifying imposter emails and quarantining fraudulent messages. The feature enables IT teams to prevent employees from sending sensitive information or money to attackers.

SERVERS -- GENERAL-PURPOSE

HPE PROLIANT DL380, GEN9

WINNER: OVERALL

Aimed at more easily connecting on-premise data centers to the cloud, Hewlett Packard Enterprise made big upgrades to its popular ProLiant DL380 as part of the server's ninth-generation release. Those include new capabilities around management and security, as well as in performance, with the integration of Intel's Xeon E5-2600 v4. "It's basically a workhorse," said Dan Molina, chief technology officer of Nth Generation Computing, San Diego. "It can truly accelerate certain workloads like databases. … And it has 3 terabytes of memory in a single server -- that's amazing. That's ideal for virtualized environments and scale-out architectures."

SERVERS -- GENERAL-PURPOSE

LENOVO X-SERIES

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: REVENUE AND PROFIT

With processors that offer up to a 39 percent boost in speed, and memory of up to 12 TB, Lenovo's X-Series is ideal for SAP HANA or Hadoop environments and major virtualization projects. It also features a modular design for easy upgrades and maintenance.

SERVERS -- GENERAL-PURPOSE

DELL POWEREDGE 13TH GENERATION

Finalist

Small and midsize businesses are the target of new servers in Dell's PowerEdge 13th Generation series, which include upgrades around deployment time (reduced by up to 40 percent), processing power (from Intel's Xeon E3-1200 v5 family) and memory performance (33 percent faster).

IBM POWER SYSTEM S822LC

Finalist

For artificial intelligence and other high-performance computing needs, IBM's Power System S822LC integrates a new processor, the Power8 with Nvidia NVLink -- leading to faster data flow from CPU to GPU. And the system leverages IBM's OpenPower LC Linux server for accelerating operations.

SUPER MICRO COMPUTER 7U 8-WAY SUPERSERVER

Finalist

For mission-critical computing -- including high-performance and large-scale virtualization -- Super Micro's 7U 8-Way SuperServer features up to 192 CPU cores. And each of the eight CPU modules support Intel Xeon E7-8800 v4/v3 processors, while two storage modules support a number of storage technologies.

SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS

LENOVO THINKPAD X1 TABLET

WINNER: OVERALL

Lenovo's 12-inch ThinkPad X1 is a 2-in-1 convertible tablet that might seem like a copy of the Surface Pro 4 on the face of it -- but that's not the case. The X1 tablet stands out by connecting to special modules such as the Productivity Module, which extends battery life by five hours, and Presenter Module, which turns the tablet into a projector. That added functionality is hugely useful, said Lawrence Cruciana, president and chief systems engineer at Charlotte, N.C.-based Corporate Information Technologies. "In my view it fit a hole in the market that was there, and I think [Lenovo] nailed it with this," Cruciana said.

SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS

APPLE IPAD PRO 9.7-INCH

SUBCATEGORY WINNER: TECHNOLOGY, CUSTOMER DEMAND

The popularity of the original iPad Pro led to Apple's launch of a 9.7-inch version of the productivity-focused tablet, which features a fast 64-bit A9X chip and works with an external keyboard, as well as the Apple Pencil.

SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS

HP ELITE X3

Finalist

HP's Elite x3 marks the debut of the "3-in-1" device concept, with the 6-inch phablet able to turn into a Windows 10 desktop or laptop in addition to serving as a smartphone. The device uses Qualcomm's powerful Snapdragon 820 processor and can turn into a desktop using Microsoft's Continuum technology.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 EDGE

Finalist

With a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and a promise of up to 15 hours of battery life, Samsung's Galaxy S7 Edge has stood out for combining a great appearance with plenty of power.

SAMSUNG TABPRO S

Finalist

Samsung has offered up a worthy 2-in-1 rival to the Microsoft Surface Pro line with the TabPro S. The Windows 10 device features a 12-inch, Super AMOLED display, attaches to a full-size keyboard and includes Intel's Core m3 processor.

SOFTWARE -- ENTERPRISE

SAP HANA EDGE EDITION

WINNER: OVERALL

Targeted at SMBs and available through partners, SAP's HANA Edge edition aims to bring advanced business analytics with entry-level pricing. And those analytics -- which can provide operational and strategic insight, and can be run in a self-service manner -- are also available in real time. "One advantage is that it doesn't matter where your data is -- you don't have to be an SAP customer -- to take advantage of SAP HANA Edge," said Ravi Padmanabhan, vice president for SAP line of business at Velocity Technology Solutions, Charlotte, N.C. "You can get intelligent information about your business regardless of what enterprise application you're actually running."

SOFTWARE -- ENTERPRISE

HPE ONEVIEW 3.0

Finalist

Hewlett Packard Enterprise OneView 3.0 offers automation -- such as letting IT teams design resources in reusable templates -- to reduce the complexity of IT service delivery. The technology ultimately allows for faster configuration of server, fabric and storage.

INFORMATION BUILDERS WEBFOCUS BUSINESS USER EDITION

Finalist

Information Builders' WebFocus Business User Edition cuts down on the complexity of business intelligence by allowing businesspeople to generate insight from their data sets -- without needing to involve IT and business intelligence developers -- via a self-service platform.

ORACLE DATABASE 12.2

Finalist

Oracle's Database 12.2 release features improvements to multi-tenancy -- which lets more databases run on a single machine -- and faster performance for in-memory database and big data analytics.

SPLUNK USER BEHAVIOR ANALYTICS 2.2

Finalist

Aimed at bolstering cyberdefense, Splunk's release of User Behavior Analytics 2.2 deploys a new Threat Detection Framework to better define how threats are triggered when anomalies are detected. The software also enhances the correlation of threats with new data sources.

SOFTWARE -- ENTERPRISE

SOFTWARE-DEFINED TECHNOLOGY

VMWARE VSAN 6.2

WINNER: OVERALL

Version 6.2 of VMware's software-defined storage-area network product, VSAN, has introduced a number of features for improved data protection and efficiency. Erasure coding and compression are among the strong points of VSAN 6.2, said Mike Feld, CEO of Holyoke, Mass.-based VertitechIT. Those features "make it far more efficient so you need fewer drives for greater storage capacity -- lower cost per TB," Feld said. VSAN 6.2 also includes better support for stretched cluster design, he said, which allows disaster recovery and high-availability capabilities to "span more data centers more easily. Stretching clusters eliminates the need for separate replication technology."

SOFTWARE -- ENTERPRISE

CISCO APPLICATION CENTRIC INFRASTRUCTURE

Finalist

With a new release of its Application Centric Infrastructure, Cisco added support for Docker containers (through an integration with the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller and the open-source Project Contiv) while also enhancing security (via micro-segmentation support).

CUMULUS NETWORKS CUMULUS LINUX 3.0

Finalist

Open-networking proponent Cumulus Networks added a number of compatible hardware platforms -- including from major vendors such as Dell and Supermicro -- with Cumulus Linux 3.0, while also adding capabilities for working with 100G.

JUNIPER CSRX FIREWALL

Finalist

Juniper Networks' cSRX firewall brings a new approach to securing software-defined networks with a microservices architecture that makes deployment easier and less expensive. The product includes capabilities around content security and threat management, and leverages Docker container technology for improved agility.

VERIZON-VIPTELA SD-WAN PLATFORM

Finalist

The software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) platform from Verizon and startup Viptela enables customers to achieve the ideal mix of private and public IP connections for their application and bandwidth needs, including MPLS, wireless LTE, broadband and Ethernet.

STORAGE -- ENTERPRISE

HPE 3PAR 20840

WINNER: OVERALL

Hewlett Packard Enterprise designed the 3Par 20840 converged flash array for organizations that are seeking to consolidate their legacy storage arrays. And its performance is impressive, said Dan Molina, chief technology officer of Nth Generation Computing, San Diego. "You can get up to 3 million IOs per second, which is a huge number. A lot of data centers are not even close [to achieving that]," he said. The 3Par 20840 also offers plenty of usable capacity -- up to 15 petabytes -- in a single system. "That's creating a lot of opportunities for massive consolidation," Molina said.

STORAGE -- ENTERPRISE

DELL EMC UNITY

Finalist

Unity -- which includes all-flash and hybrid flash versions -- stands out for its performance gains and, perhaps more notably, for its simplicity compared with previous EMC storage products. Central to Unity's simplified approach is its bringing together of support for both file and block protocols.

HITACHI DATA SYSTEMS HFS A-SERIES ALL-FLASH ARRAYS

Finalist

Aimed at bringing performance boosts in a small footprint, Hitachi Data Systems launched the HFS A-Series in its flash portfolio -- with features including simpler deployment, data optimization and efficient sharing of system performance between applications.

IBM A9000/A9000R ALL-FLASH STORAGE

Finalist

Using technologies such as IBM FlashCore and flash-optimized data reduction, IBM's A9000 and A9000R bring serious performance paired with high availability. Data protection, meanwhile, is achieved through features such as IBM Variable Stripe RAID technology.

NETAPP SOLIDFIRE SF-SERIES 19210

Finalist

With a combination of boosted performance and higher capacity, NetApp's SolidFire SF-Series 19210 is ideal for a variety of different environments -- including those that are heavily virtualized -- in addition to databases and public cloud or private cloud infrastructures.

STORAGE -- MIDRANGE

HPE STOREVIRTUAL 4335

WINNER: OVERALL

With StoreVirtual 4335, Hewlett Packard Enterprise has expanded its StoreVirtual scale-out storage line with a hybrid flash array that features the same user interface, command line interface and data services as HPE's StoreVirtual virtual storage appliance. The StoreVirtual platform allows partners to deliver "enterprise-class capabilities such as the ability to accelerate apps with flash or increase system resiliency combined with software-defined flexibility for an incredibly low starting point," said Cary Dahl, principal architect at Somerset, N.J.-based SHI International. StoreVirtual 4335 comes as an integrated hardware appliance with three 400-GB SSDs and seven 900-GB spinning drives.

STORAGE -- MIDRANGE

NEXSAN UNITY

Subcategory Winner: Revenue and Profit

Nexsan's Unity combines the company's unified storage platform with its Transporter enterprise file sync and share technology, allowing for sharing of data from primary storage without transmitting it over the cloud. The Unity platform also provides business continuity and disaster recovery processes.

STORAGE -- MIDRANGE

NETAPP E2800

Finalist

Aimed at supporting midsize businesses that use data analytics applications, NetApp launched its E2800 entry-level all-flash array as an offering to help speed up the results of data analytics while at the same time simplifying IT infrastructure and eliminating complex RAID management.

DELL EMC UNITY

Finalist

Dell EMC's Unity includes all-flash and hybrid flash versions, and brings a high degree of simplicity compared with previous EMC storage products. Central to Unity's simplified approach is its bringing together of support for both file and block protocols.

NIMBLE STORAGE AF1000

Finalist

Nimble Storage's AF1000 all-flash array offers entry-level pricing for a system that still brings the same features of Nimble's other all-flash arrays -- including its InfoSight Predictive Analytics, used to prevent storage and non-storage issues inside an organization's infrastructure.