A stalwart of the thin client game, Citrix Systems continues to provide desktop management via mature thin client architecture for the pervasive Windows desktop paradigm. While new alternatives are now emerging in the form of Windows 2000 Terminal Server, Citrix has been and will certainly continue to be a leader in innovation and functionality in the thin client arena, at least for the short term.

Sporting flexible features, including its low-overhead Independent Computer Architecture (ICA) protocol, in conjunction with compression and client-caching capabilities, MetaFrame 1.8 for Windows NT lets organizations deploy applications across the slowest of WAN links. And for Windows-based networks predating Windows 2000, MetaFrame offers these features today, not tomorrow. ICA's heterogeneous client support and over-the-top assistance for Windows NT Terminal Server only strengthen MetaFrame's leadership position in the thin client market. Citrix's product fits into the niche left by now outdated and crippled Windows networks in dire need of enterprise-class desktop management and application rollouts.

-- Greg Yerxa

Enterprise Directory Service

Winner

NDS eDirectory, Novell, (800) 453-1267, (801) 861-7000 www.novell.com

Finalists

iPlanet Directory Server, iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions (Sun-Netscape Alliance), (888) 786-8111 www.iplanet.com Active Directory, Microsoft Corp., (800) 426-9400, (425) 882-8080 www.microsoft.com

Award: Enterprise Directory Service

In the past, enterprise directory services conjured up images of unsupported applications and platforms. Today, we're much more likely to consider Novell's NDS eDirectory the high-water mark for all others. NDS eDirectory is a time-tested general-purpose directory service that has been servicing network administrators' needs since the early '90s (our CAE host lab's NDS tree was born at 11:38 a.m. on Sept. 14, 1993). The package has proven to be scalable in production environments handling millions of objects. And NDS eDirectory now isn't tied only to NetWare--it also boasts cross-platform support for Windows NT, Solaris and Linux. NDS eDirectory supports open standards for accessing directory information, in addition to the proprietary APIs (available for free) to develop applications that are directory-aware. The product supports LDAP as well.

-- Greg Yerxa

Most Innovative Enterprise Internet Service Provider

Winner

Digital Island, (888) 215-4259, (415) 738-4100 www.digitalisland.net

Finalists

Akamai Technologies, (877) 4AKAMAI, (617) 250-3000 www.akamai.com InterNAP Network Services Corp., (877) THE-PNAP, (206) 441-8800 www.internap.com

Award: Most Innovative Enterprise Internet Service Provider

With the growth of the Web have come many new opportunities to make technology work for you. And few ISPs are flexible enough to offer the broad spectrum of innovative applications and services that Digital Island can provide. Digital Island serves up content distribution services, network connectivity and streaming media, as well as localization software and services needed in today's burgeoning global Internet. The company's unique combination of strong distributed data-center services and a good global network backbone gives it the ability to deal with many different customers.

Digital Island's content distribution network also spans other providers' facilities, building dynamic content with the strength of a content distribution service and Web hosting service combined. Localization middleware called TraceWare provides country-of-origin information for localized content, regionalized pricing, content restriction, currency and tax logic, as well as demographic analysis, for multinational corporations that require a single Web presence with a different virtual face for each country.

-- Greg Yerxa

Server Operating System

Winner

NetWare 5.1, Novell, (800) 453-1267, (801) 861-7000 www.novell.com

Finalists

Linux (kernel 2.2), The Linux Kernel Archives www.kernel.org Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Corp., (800) 426-9400, (425) 882-8080 www.microsoft.com

Award: Server Operating System

Versatility is the hallmark of the present-day server operating system, which provides file and print services, network infrastructure services such as DHCP and DNS, Web and Internet services, application hosting, and directory services.

Our 2000 Well-Connected Award in this category goes to Novell's NetWare 5.1--the first version of NetWare to be tightly tied to a full-service directory, NDS eDirectory. NetWare 5.1 adds a number of new Internet-based services as well as third-party products, including IBM's WebSphere, Oracle8i and Oracle WebDB. The NetWare Management Portal raises the bar for manageability by providing integrated, secure Web-based administration of the NetWare package. Novell has committed significant resources to implementing standards-based services, and it shows in this latest NetWare release.

-- Greg Yerxa

Network Content Monitor

Winner

SuperScout, JSB's surfControl, (800) 368-3366, (831) 431-1400 www.surfcontrol.com

Finalists

CommandView Internet Manager, Elron Software, (800) 767-6683, (781) 993-6000 www.elronsoftware.com SmartFilter, Secure Computing, (800) 379-4844, (408) 918-6100 www.securecomputing.com

Award: Network Content Monitor

Taking back control of your corporate network from the Internet's inebriating wave of freedom and highly entertaining content is no easy chore. SurfControl's rich line of content-monitoring products, including SuperScout, can help.

During our tests, we were impressed with SuperScout's ability to monitor and block Web and other Internet traffic, such as FTP and e-mail. The software combines a straightforward GUI with robust monitoring and profiling features necessary for responsible network monitoring. It also provides the most refined rule- and policy-creation tools we've seen to date. Flexible implementations, including proxy plug-ins for Microsoft's Proxy Server and Check Point's FireWall-1, help make SuperScout an easy fit into just about any enterprise network configuration.

-- Greg Yerxa

Network Caching Solution

Winner

Squid Web Proxy Cache, UCSD (University of California San Diego) www.squid-cache.org/

Finalists

DynaCache, InfoLibria, (800) 778-2111, (781) 398-0288 www.infolibria.com TaskSmart C2000R Server, Compaq Computer Corp., (800) 345-1518 Based on Novell Internet Caching System, Novell, (800) 453-1267, (801) 222-6000 www.compaq.com www.novell.com/nics

Award: Network Caching Solution

Every so often, Network Computing must evaluate a technology and market space that contains viable open-source alternatives. In our review of caching appliances last summer, we determined that the Squid Web Proxy Cache was as good a fit for enterprise networks as the alternatives, which included Novell's Internet Caching System (ICS) on Compaq hardware and InfoLibria's DynaCache. Despite Squid's complex hands-on installation and maintenance, its performance in our tests and its feature set helped it garner its first Well-Connected Award.

Detractors of Squid will cite the need for a more comprehensive and feature-rich product, and in some cases will point to the complex hardware issues involved in building a caching solution around the Squid source code. But Squid's existence prior to the current boom in content-oriented technologies and services, as well as a continually expanding and improved source-code base, contributed to our singling it out as the winner in this category.

-- Greg Yerxa

Best Network Appliance

Winner

ExtendNet 4000 (now shipping 1.1), Extended Systems, (800) 235-7576, (208) 322-7575 www.extendedsystems.com

Finalists

Intel InBusiness eMail Station, Intel Corp., (800) 538-3373, (503) 264-7354 www.intel.com/network/smallbiz Microtest DiscPort (now shipping as DiscZerver), Microtest, (800) 526-9675, (602) 952-6400 www.microtest.com

Award: Best Network Appliance

With the ever-widening coverage areas for new, improved, ultrafast broadband access to the Internet in all its splendor, turnkey Internet-access servers have become more refined in recent years. Although this category encompasses a cornucopia of technologies, Extended Systems' ExtendNet 4000 delivered many de facto technologies early in 1999--including VPN, TCP and UDP filtering; DHCP client and server functionality; and numerous mail and Web features, such as bulk mail delivery and Web-content synchronization--all within a single network appliance.

The ExtendNet 4000's robust feature set might intimidate some in the SOHO arena who lack the basic knowledge of and experience with core Internet protocols were it not for the product's extremely user-friendly Web interface and initial-configuration tools. In our SOHO test environment, our test Internet dummy had little problem grasping the technologies in place via the online help and extensive documentation. With more SOHO environments coming on the scene every day, the ExtendNet 4000 and its ancestors are very capable of providing the features and performance seasoned network administrators have come to expect.

-- Greg Yerxa