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Redmond Magazine Announces 2006 Readers' Choice Awards


Irvine, CA, April 28, 2006 -- Redmond magazine has released the winners of its annual 2006 Redmond magazine Readers Choice Awards. The awards, which appear in the May issue, are presented in 45 product categories in the Microsoft Windows market.

The Redmond Readers Choice Award is a true representation of the opinions and attitudes of our readers. The products our readers choose are the ones that drive their networks and keep their businesses up and running. This years survey was even more extensive than in previous years, but that did not deter our readers enthusiastic response. We received nearly 2,000 responses listing our readers favorites in 45 categories.

Notable this year is an additional award level  the ISV Winner -- we established for some of the major product categories. We did this to recognize the leading independent software vendors who earned the most votes in categories where Microsoft has dominated. For example, Microsoft won the network management category and is duly honored as the winner. To recognize the other leading vendors in that category, we established the ISV Winner. We did this not so much to level the playing field, but to acknowledge that in some cases, there are really two playing fields.

It's always exciting to look through the results of the Readers Choice survey," says executive editor Lafe Low. “Its like having a conversation with all of our readers at once. The results of this survey give a clear view of the technology landscape across the country. The winners should be honored, as they have been chosen by the IT professionals who are running the show and selecting products on a daily basis.

Here is a rundown of the winners in each individual category:

Network and Systems Management:

Best network management product

Microsoft Systems Management Server -- Winner

Microsoft Operations Manager  Preferred Product

HP Openview  ISV Winner

Cisco LAN Management Solution  Preferred Product

Solar Winds Network Management Software  Preferred Product


Best application management product

Microsoft Operations Manager -- Winner

NetIQ AppManager Suite  ISV Winner

LANDesk  Preferred Product

Novell ZenWorks  Preferred Product


Best performance management product

Microsoft Operations Manager -- Winner

NetIQ AppManager  ISV Winner

SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor  Preferred Product

IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Transaction Performance  Preferred Product


Best general network monitoring tool

Microsoft Operations Manager -- Winner

Cisco Systems Syslog Analyzer  ISV Winner

HP OpenView Operations for Windows  Preferred Product

IBM Tivoli NetView  Preferred Product


Best interoperability product

MKS Toolkit for Developers -- Winner

Centrify DirectControl  Preferred Product

Centeris Likewise  Preferred Product


Best bandwidth/traffic monitoring product

Network Instruments Observer -- Winner

Lightspeed Systems Total Traffic Control  Preferred Product

Argent Guardian  Preferred Product


Best Web usage monitor

Websense Enterprise -- Winner

SurfControl Web Filter  Preferred Product

SmartFilter  Preferred Product


Best asset management/resource inventory product

Altiris Asset Management Suite -- Winner

Altiris Inventory Solution  Preferred Product

Numara (formerly Intuit) Track-It  Preferred Product


Best license management product

Microsoft Systems Management Server -- Winner

Altiris Compliance Suite  ISV Winner

Altiris Server Provisioning Suite  Preferred Product

iInventory  Preferred Product


Best compliance tools

NetIQ Security Compliance Suite -- Winner

Symantec/Bindview  Preferred Product

Shavlik NetChk Compliance  Preferred Product


Best virtual server product

VMWare GSX Server -- Winner

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005  Preferred Product

VMWare ESX Server  Preferred Product


Best virtual PC product

VMWare Workstation Edition -- Winner

Microsoft Connectix Virtual PC for Windows  Preferred Product

Softricity Softgrid  Preferred Product


Best non-Microsoft browser

Firefox -- Winner

Mozilla  Preferred Product

Netscape Navigator  Preferred Product


Best SQL tool

Microsoft -- Winner

SQL Power Tools  ISV Winner

Quest Software  Preferred Product

Embarcadero Technology ERStudio  Preferred Product


Installation/Deployment:

Best software distribution product

Microsoft Systems Management Server -- Winner

IBM Tivoli Netview Distribution Manager  ISV Winner

CA UniCenter  Preferred Product

OnDemand Software WinInstall  Preferred Product


Best software packaging product

Installshield AdminStudio -- Winner

Altiris Package Studio  Preferred Product

OnDemand Software WinInstall  Preferred Product


Best drive imaging product

Symantec Ghost -- Winner

Acronis True Image  Preferred Product

Altiris Migration Suite  Preferred Product


Administration:

Best migration product

Quest Migration Manager for Active Directory -- Winner

Altiris Deployment Solution  Preferred Product

Altiris Client Management Suite  Preferred Product


Best server migration product

Quest Migration Suite for Active Directory/Exchange -- Winner

Altiris Deployment Solution  Preferred Product

Altiris Client Management Suite  Preferred Product


Best Group Policy manager

Microsoft Group Policy Management Console -- Winner

ScriptLogic Active Administrator  ISV Winner

NetIQ Group Policy Administrator  Preferred Product

NetIQ Security Administration Suite  Preferred Product


Best disk defragmentation and drive monitoring tool

Diskeeper Corp. Diskeeper -- Winner

Winternals Defrag Manager  Preferred Product

Raxco PerfectDisk  Preferred Product


Best remote troubleshooting solution

Altiris Carbon Copy -- Winner

Netopia Timbuktu  Preferred Product

NetSupport Manager  Preferred Product


Best network automation and batch processing tool

ScriptLogic Desktop Authority -- Winner

HP Openview Operations for Windows  Preferred Product

MKS Toolkit for Enterprise Developers  Preferred Product


Best scripting tool

Sapien PrimalScript -- Winner

iTripoli AdminSciptEditor  Preferred Product

XLNow OnScript  Preferred Product


Best patch management product

Microsoft Software Update Services -- Winner

Shavlik Technologies HFNetChkPro  ISV Winner

Altiris Patch Management Solution  Preferred Product

PatchLink Update  Preferred Product


Best application sharing tool

Citrix Metaframe -- Winner

Microsoft Terminal Services  Preferred Product

New Moon Canaveral IQ  Preferred Product


Best application conflict testing tool

Macrovision FLEXnet AdminStudio -- Winner

OnDemand Software WinInstall  Preferred Product

Altiris Package Studio  Preferred Product


Security:

Best firewall product  hardware-based

Cisco Systems PIX series -- Winner

Sonicwall Pro and TZ series  Preferred Product

Symantec VelociRaptor  Preferred Product


Best firewall product  software-based

Microsoft ISA Server 2004 -- Winner

Check Point Software Technologies Firewall-1  ISV Winner

Symantec Enterprise Firewall  Preferred Product

McAfee Personal Firewall Plus  Preferred Product


Best security auditing product

GFI LANguard Security Event Log Monitor -- Winner

Tripwire for Servers  Preferred Product

CA eTrust Access Control  Preferred Product


Best intrusion detection system

Cisco Systems Secure Intrusion Detection System -- Winner

Snort  Preferred Product

Network ICE BlackICE Pro  Preferred Product


Best intrusion prevention system

Cisco Systems' Okena Stormwatch -- Winner

Network Associates Intrushield  Preferred Product

Internet Security Systems  Preferred Product


Best smart card/biometric/two-factor authentication system

RSA SecureID -- Winner

ActivCard Trinity  Preferred Product

Griffin Technologies Securikey Professional Edition  Preferred Product


Best secure messaging tool or service (spam and content filtering)

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 -- Winner

Barracuda Networks Spam firewall  ISV Winner

Symantec/Norton Internet Security 2006  Preferred Product

Trend Micro Messaging Security for SMB  Preferred Product


Best anti-virus tool

Symantec Antivirus -- Winner

McAfee GroupShield  Preferred Product

Trend Micro Interscan Enterprise Suite  Preferred Product


Best anti-spyware tool

McAfee Anti-Spyware -- Winner

Trend Micro Antispyware  Preferred Product

Webroot  Preferred Product


Storage and Backup:

Best backup system

Symantec/Veritas Backup Exec -- Winner

Symantec/Veritas NetBackup  Preferred Product

CA BrightStor Enterprise Backup  Preferred Product


Best storage management product

Symantec/Veritas Storage Central -- Winner

EMC ControlCenter SRM software  Preferred Product

Symantec/Veritas Volume Manager  Preferred Product


Best disaster recovery product or service

Symantec/Veritas Backup Exec -- Winner

Symantec/Veritas NetBackup  Preferred Product

Winternals Recovery Manager  Preferred Product


Best clustering and failover solution

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Clustering Services -- Winner

Veritas Cluster Server  ISV Winner

Veritas Global Cluster Manager  Preferred Product

NSI Software DoubleTake  Preferred Product


Best load balancing product

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Load Balancing -- Winner

F5 Networks 3-DNS Controller  ISV Winner

Mercury LoadRunner  Preferred Product

Legato AAM  Preferred Product


Most reliable Windows-based server platform:

Dell -- Winner

HP  Preferred Product

IBM  Preferred Product


Training and Certification:

Best exam preparation product or service

Transcender -- Winner

Microsoft Press  Preferred Product

Cisco Press  Preferred Product


Best on-line, disk-based or instructor led training

Microsoft Press -- Winner

Global Knowledge  ISV Winner

MeasureUp  Preferred Product

SkillSoft (Books24x7)  Preferred Product


Best Windows certification-based boot camp

Global Knowledge -- Winner

The Training Camp  Preferred Product

GlobalNet Training  Preferred Product