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[Feature]

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802.11 Access Point
For the second year in a row, Cisco Systems won the Readers' Choice award for Best 802.11 Access Point. This year, the Cisco Aironet 1200 Series Access Point took top honors.
 — Editors

802.11 NIC
Cisco Systems' Cisco Aironet 802.11 a/b/g Wireless CardBus Adapter garnered 30 percent of the vote to win the award for Best 802.11 NIC.
 — Editors

Active Directory Management Tool
HP's OpenView Smart Plug-in for Microsoft Active Directory has taken the Active Directory Management Tool crown.
 — Editors

Antispam/Client Side
Symantec's Norton AntiSpam is the clear winner as the 2004 Readers' Choice best antispam/client side product.
 — Editors

Antispam/Server Side
Vircom's ModusGate edges out the competition for the 2004 Readers' Choice Best Antispam/Server Side award by one vote.
 — Editors

Antivirus/Client Side
Symantec's Norton AntiVirus takes 2004 Readers' Choice Best Antivirus/Client Side honors.
 — Editors

Antivirus/Mail Server
Symantec Mail Security for SMTP won the 2004 Readers' Choice Best Antivirus/Mail Server award.
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Antivirus/Server Side
Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition captured more than 50 percent of the vote to win the 2004 Readers' Choice Best Antivirus/Server Side award.
 — Editors

Application Security Software
Symantec Client Security prevailed as the 2004 Readers' Choice Best Application Security Software.
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Application Service Provider
Winning its second Best Application Service Provider award in 2 years, Emergent OnLine captured more than 40 percent of the vote in this category.
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Applications and Operations Management Tool
In a crowded playing field, HP OpenView Operations for Windows takes top honors for Best Applications and Operations Management Tool—for the second straight year.
 — Editors

Asset Management Software
Handily besting its competitors for the third straight year, Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 is your choice for Best Asset Management Software.
 — Editors

Automation/Scheduling Tool
Network Automation's AutoMate takes the 2004 Readers' Choice award for Best Automation/Scheduling Tool.
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Best Hardware
Dell's PowerEdge servers win the Best Hardware award in this year’s Readers’ Choice awards.
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Best New Product
VMware VirtualCenter wins Readers' Choice Rookie of the Year award.
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Best Service and Support
Readers' Choice Best Service and Support award goes to Vircom.
 — Editors

Best Software
Vircom ModusGate is awarded Best Software in the 2004 Readers' Choice awards.
 — Editors

Boot Camp
Readers awarded Intense School the Best Boot Camp award for the second year in a row.
 — Editors

Capacity Planning and Trend Analysis Software
Another close race finds a new product—Quest MessageStats—winning Best Capacity Planning and Trend Analysis Software.
 — Editors

Change and Configuration Management Tool
In an extremely tight battle for Best Change and Configuration Management Tool, Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 again surges to the front.
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Collaboration Solution
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services wins the prize this year as Best Collaboration Solution.
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Computer-Based Training
Intense School takes the award for best computer-based training.
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Customer Relationship Management Software
iCode's Everest Advanced Edition 2.0 takes the award for Best Customer Relationship Management Software.
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Defragmentation Utility
Executive Software's Diskeeper 8.0 is our readers' choice for Best Defragmentation Utility.
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Desktop Backup/Recovery/Archive Software
For the desktop, readers chose VERITAS Backup Exec for Windows Servers as the best product for backing up data.
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Desktop Computer
Dell posted a write-in victory for the Best Desktop Computer award, confirming its place as the PC market leader.
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Disk Imaging Software
Slaying the competition, Symantec Ghost is easily your choice for Best Disk Imaging Software.
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Document Management/Imaging Software
Readers named Adobe Systems' Adobe Acrobat Capture 3.0 as Best Document/Management/Imaging Software.
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Emergency Recovery Console Utility
Our readers choose Winternals Software's ERD Commander for the third year in a row as Best Emergency Recovery Console Utility.
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Encryption/Digital Signing Software
Adobe Systems' Adobe Acrobat 6.0 wins the 2004 Readers' Choice Best Encryption/Digital Signing Software award.
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Enterprise Backup/Recovery Hardware
HP StorageWorks SSL1016 Tape Autoloader takes the top prize for the Best Enterprise Backup/Recovery Hardware.
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Enterprise Backup/Recovery/Archive Software
Readers endorsed VERITAS NetBackup Enterprise Server as their product of choice for backing up crucial company data.
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Enterprise Resource Planning Software
iCode's Everest Advanced Edition 2.0 gets the nod from readers for Best Enterprise Resource Planning Software.
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Fax Server
For the third consecutive year, GFI FAXmaker for Exchange wins the Best Fax Server award.
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File-Compression Tool
Readers choose PKWARE's PKZIP as Best File-Compression Tool.
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File-System Tool
Winternals Software's NTFSDOS Professional wins the Best File-System Tool award for the third year in a row.
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Financial Application
Epicor Financials Suite takes the award for Best Financial Application.
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Firewall
Check Point Software Technologies' Check Point Next Generation (NG) with Application Intelligence is the winner of the 2004 Readers' Choice Best Firewall award.
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Help Desk Software
Three co-winners share the Best Help Desk Software award: Emergent Online's 99point9.com, HelpSTAR, and Remedy Help Desk.
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High-Availability Solution
Emergent OnLine eContinuity beat some stiff competition to take top honors for the Best High-Availability Solution.
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Installer Software
Almost two-thirds of our readers said that InstallShield DevStudio 9.0 was the Best Installer Software. Although the product now has a new version (InstallShield X) and a new maker (Macrovision), these readers will likely still be fans.
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Instant Messaging
Different product, same idea: the Instant Messaging crown goes to a new winner, but Microsoft remains the top vendor in this category.
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Instructor-Led Training
Intense School’s instructors with real-world IT experience helped it land the Best Instructor-Led Training award.
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Intrusion-Detection Software
The 2004 Readers' Choice Best Intrusion-Detection Software winner is Symantec Intruder Alert.
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Laptop/Notebook Computer
The Dell Latitude captured three times the votes its nearest competitor did to claim the prize for Best Laptop/Notebook Computer.
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Load-Balancing Solution
Radware Web Server Director (WSD) bested several strong contenders to win the Readers' Choice award for Best Load-Balancing Solution.
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Mail Server
Vircom's ModusMail takes the prize as the best mail server product.
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Mail Server Administration Utility
Readers voted Sunbelt Software's iHateSpam for Exchange the Best Mail Server Administration Utility, leaving us to guess that fighting spam is now your number-one priority.
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Management, Monitoring, and Analysis Solution
Readers resoundingly chose HP OpenView Operations for Windows as the Best Management, Monitoring, and Analysis Solution.
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Monitoring and Alerting Software
Edging its rivals by only the slightest margin, HP OpenView Operations for Windows repeats last year's win as the Best Monitoring and Alerting Software.
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Most Innovative Product
Readers chose Vircom’s ModusGate as the Most Innovative Product of 2004.
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Network Analyzer
Network General's Sniffer Distributed claims the Best Hardware Network Analyzer award for the second year in a row.
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Network Attached Storage
The HP StorageWorks NAS 4000s polled 25 percent of the vote to convincingly capture the Best Network Attached Storage award.
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Network Layout and Design Tool
Ipswitch's WhatsUp Gold, winner of the 2004 Readers' Choice Best Network Layout and Design Tool award, also provides availability and performance monitoring and alert management.
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OS Migration Tool
Symantec Ghost records its second significant victory to stake its claim as Best OS Migration Tool.
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Password-Auditing Software
Symantec's Norton Password Manager was voted 2004 Readers' Choice Best Password-Auditing Software.
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Patch Management Tool
Retaining its crown as Best Patch Management Tool, Microsoft Systems Management Server proves itself dominant.
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PDA
The Dell Axim pulled off an upset victory over last year's winner to take first place as the Best PDA.
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Performance-Tuning Tool
Posting a narrow win over another HP product, HP OpenView Performance Insight scores a victory as Best Performance-Tuning Tool.
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Protocol Analyzer
The Sniffer s6040 appliance combines network fault direction and reporting capabilities with blade-based hardware designed to be placed at the network core.
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Quota Management Software
VERITAS Software's Storage Central scores an easy repeat of last year's victory as the Best Quota Management Software.
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RAS and RRAS Solution
Equinox's SST Multi-modem PCI Universal Adapters gained 43 percent of the vote to win the Best RAS and RRAS Solution award.
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Registry Management Tool
For the second straight year, ScriptLogic has scored a victory as Best Registry Management Tool.
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Remote Control Product
Citrix Online, a division of Citrix Systems and a new Readers' Choice entrant, captured first place for Best Remote Control Product.
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Remote Management Tool
Narrowly recording a win as Best Remote Management Tool is Symantec's pcAnywhere.
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Replication/Data Availability Solution
The award for the Best Replication/Data Availability Solution goes to VERITAS Storage Replicator.
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Router
The Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router took first place for the Best Router award, garnering nearly one-third of the vote.
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Scripting Tool
With more than 45 percent of the votes, ScriptLogic 5.5 easily captured the Best Scripting Tool award for the third straight year.
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Security Scanner
Voters gave eEye Digital Security's Retina Network Security Scanner the 2004 Readers' Choice Best Security Scanner award.
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Security Service
Symantec DeepSight Alert Services took home the gold as the best security service product, beating seven tough contenders.
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Software Deployment Tool
Microsoft Systems Management Server wins again in this category, this time for Best Software Deployment Tool.
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Source Code Control Software
While our readers were voting XpressApps’ mssqlXpress the best SCC software product, Imceda was acquiring its maker. Although the product has a new name—Speed SQL IDE—its purpose is the same.
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Spyware Blocker
Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm Pro gets the nod for 2004 Readers' Choice Best Spyware Blocker.
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Storage Area Network
The HP StorageWorks Modular Smart Array 1000, which claimed the Best Storage Area Network award, provides a low-cost, scalable, high-performance storage consolidation system designed to reduce the complexity and risk of SAN deployments.
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Storage-Management Tool
HP OpenView Storage Area Manager retained the Best Storage Management Tool award that it laid claim to last year.
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Switch
The Linksys 8-Port 10/100 Switch won the Best Switch award, gaining 22 percent of readers' votes.
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Tablet PC
Almost a third of our readers think that Toshiba's Portégé M205-S810 is the best Tablet PC on the market.
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Testing and Debugging Software
Winning in a landslide, VMware Workstation 4.5 took the top honors for the best testing and debugging software product for the second consecutive year.
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Thin Client
For the second year in a row, HP claimed victory as the Best Thin Client, this year with the HP Thin Client t5700.
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Third-Party Authentication Device
RSA Security's RSA SecurID is the 2004 Readers' Choice Best Third-Party Authentication Device winner.
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Undelete Utility
Symantec's Norton SystemWorks is the winner of the 2004 Readers' Choice award for Best Undelete Utility.
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Uninterruptible Power System
For the Best Uninterruptible Power System, readers give high praise and top honors to APC's InfraStruXure solution.
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User and Directory Management Tool
In an extremely close race, ScriptLogic's Enterprise Security Reporter has taken the top prize as Best User and Directory Management Tool.
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VoIP Solution
Readers vote the Tenor DX VoIP MultiPath Switch as the best VoIP product.
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VPN Solution
Nearly one-third of readers--31 percent--named Check Point Software Technologies' VPN-1 SecureClient as Best VPN Solution.
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Web Site Analysis Service
Our readers deemed NetIQ WebTrends 7 On Demand (formerly WebTrends Reporting Service) worthy of praise: They gave the product almost 42 percent of the vote as the Best Web Site Analysis Service.
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Web Site Development Tool
With 54 percent of the votes, Macromedia’s Studio MX 2004 won the Best Web Site Development Tool award.
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Web Site Hosting Service
Our readers think Hosting.com True VPS hosting (formerly Invotion's True VPS hosting) is number one, giving the product the Best Web Site Hosting Service award.
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Web-Access Control and Monitoring Software
In a close race, Websense Enterprise 5.1 took the award for Best Web-Access Control and Monitoring Software.
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Web-Based Training
Intense School beat last year's winner, Global Knowledge, and grabbed the award for best Web-based training.
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Windows Development Tool
VMware Workstation 4.5 is a two-time winner this year in the Development Tools category. Besides winning the Best Testing and Debugging Software award, the product also won the Best Windows Development Tool award.
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[Editorial]

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You Decided, We Report!
Windows IT Pro announces the winners of the 2004 Readers' Choice awards.
 — Carolyn Mader