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Surprising Security Shortcomings After nearly a decade of threat warnings, evolving threats and billions of dollars in technology investments, you’d think that businesses have at least a baseline of IT security protections. Recent reports reveal some surprising security shortcomings in the business community.
Channel Insider`s 10 Best Products of the Year (
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For Channel Insider’s top 10 best products of 2008, Senior Technology Editor Frank Ohlhorst looked back at more than 200 products he reviewed throughout the year and weighed them for innovation, functionality, up-sell and value-add service opportunities and market potential.The result is this top 10 list of the best of the best.
Over the course of the year, I tested and reviewed more than 200 products ranging from portable peripherals to 2U data center appliances, from office productivity software to processors, from next-generation netbooks to cloud-based services. I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly. They’ve all had one thing in common, though: they’re all sold through the channel.
To end the year on a positive note, I’ve reviewed all of my reviews to pick the cream of the crop, the best of the best channel products of the year. I’ve re-examined the results and put a new evaluation filter on them, screening the previous reviews for their innovation, up-sell opportunities, value-added service opportunities and market potential. I’ve also took vendor’s channel support program into consider. The result is my picks for the best channel products of the year in these 10 categories:
Best Free Antivirus Apps
Microsoft isn’t the first vendor to offer free antivirus software to consumers and small businesses. Several vendors have free general available versions of their malware protection suites. Their strategy: get customers interested and open opportunity to partners. Here are few worth free AV packages worth considering. View Slideshow
Top 10 Most Profitable Vendor Certifications
Solution providers that invest in vendor technical certifications are more profitable, sell more complex systems and have better relationships with their customers, according to the new Channel Insider/Amazon Consulting certification study. But not all vendor certifications have the same ROI. The following vendors have the best certifications for return on their partners’ investment. View Slideshow
The IT industry is in the midst of a mass metamorphosis. Lines are blurring between networking technologies, storage, servers, software and telephony. Vendors that represent the tried and true establishment in one discipline are now making hard-right turns into new, largely unfamiliar and often competitive markets. Read on to see just a few of the major convergence plays of the last year. View Slideshow