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		Award Categories: Security Network & Systems Management Mobile & Wireless Technology Digital Convergence Service Providers & Outsourcing Business Applications Infrastructure Data Management & Storage Technology

At Network Computing, we evaluate technology much better than we prepare meals (though my eggplant parmigiana isn't bad), and we know how to select a winning menu of hardware, software and services that will help drive your organization to new levels of excellence.

Our Well-Connected Awards, brought to you annually for seven years now, represent our salute to the very best the industry has to offer. And we don't just take the cook's word for it. We "taste" the products in our labs, and if they aren't up to standards, we say so -- we don't mince words.

In the following pages, we treat you to information about the winners and finalists in 48 categories, organized around our eight core areas, and an analysis of trends in each market. It's never easy narrowing the list, but we feel confident recommending these products to solve your business technology problems.

And for dessert, we present the crème de la crème: the hardware, software and service provider that warrant special recognition.

Stalker Software used a winning recipe to produce CommuniGate Pro, our Software Product of the Year. Standards-based e-mail isn't trendy -- it's a staple. CommuniGate Pro impressed our editors with its low cost, low overhead, high availability, outstanding manageability, excellent security and platform support, and all the bells and whistles we expect in a mature, standards-based e-mail server.

Cisco Systems' AVVID IP telephony system garnered our Hardware Product of the Year title by blending just the right ingredients to deliver an elegant solution. Cisco recognized that the safe selection for voice services in most enterprises is the traditional PBX, so getting network managers to sample a new delicacy that promises rich voice-data integration requires careful attention to details like high availability, scalability, manageability and easy-to-use client devices. While steak and potato eaters may feel that enterprise VoIP needs to bake a little longer, those of you willing to take some risks will agree this is a solid solution.

And like a fine meal comprising several courses to please your palette, Concert won our Service Provider of the Year award by proving that the whole can indeed be better than the sum of its parts (AT&T and British Telecommunications). Concert has created a truly global network for enterprise customers, offering both on-net and off-net IP telephony services to more than 200 countries, thus bringing voice-over technologies to customers worldwide. Further, Concert's IP Secure offering lets global companies transmit corporate data over a VPN without the expense of ATM or frame relay.

Now, that's cooking.