Network World awards the Best of the Tests distinction to products that have shined in our rigorous hands-on testing during the past 12 months. This designation signifies which among the more than 240 products and services from 150-plus companies we tested from Nov. 1, 2000, to Oct. 31, 2001, are the cream of the crop.

We divided the tested products and services into 13 categories based on market focus. Our Best of the Tests Award categories are: client maintenance, directories, enterprise servers, Internet appliances, ISP services, mobile management, multimedia networking, network management, security, enterprise switching/routing, Web acceleration, Web site management and wireless.

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To determine the winner in each category, we took into account the score - with the best possible a 5.0 - awarded to each product by the Network World Global Test Alliance member or independent reviewer who conducted the test. In cases where multiple products vied for the top spot within a category based purely on score, Network World reviews editors picked the winner based on how well each product outperformed or outfeatured the products against which it was tested.

Now, on to the winners of this year's Best of the Tests Award.

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Don't just read about it! Get a first-hand look at the products Network World's reviewers have selected as the best. Visit our Best of the Tests booth at Comnet. Live test demonstrations will be provided by Spirent Communications.

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Client maintenance

For the second year, Intel's LANDesk Management Suite topped a half-dozen competitors in the overall desktop management suite realm, besting products that help migrate desktop personalities to new PCs and assist with application installation. Intel's suite got the thumbs up for strong standard features such as desktop configuration and software distribution and for its innovative approach to Web-based management.

Best of the Tests Award winner: LANDesk Management Suite

Directories

NetIQ, which won last year's network operating system administration tools Best of the Tests category with its OnePoint Operations Manager, returns to the roster this year with its Domain Migration Administrator (DMA). This product bested three others in our Windows 2000/Active Directory migration tool shootout. NetIQ DMA, which ships in the OnePoint software package, earned top honors for its ease of use and strong directory modeling tools.

Best of the Tests Award winner: Domain Migration Administrator

Enterprise servers

The Compaq ProLiant DL380 is a small, rack-optimized server that packs a huge performance punch. This dual-processor box won our World Class Award, given to products that receive a mark of 4.5 or higher in our scorecard, largely for its near perfect performance numbers across our file, network and database tests. It was the only enterprise server of five we tested this year to earn the World Class distinction.

Best of the Tests Award winner: ProLiant DL380

Internet appliances

Sun Cobalt's Qube 3 edged out similar Internet server appliances and a host of residential Internet gateway products to win top honors. The Qube 3 garnered our Blue Ribbon Award, given to any product that wins a comparative review with a score greater than 3.5, for offering the most administrative information, strongest fault tolerance and best Web e-mail among appliances tested.

Best of the Tests Award winner: Qube 3 Professional Edition

ISP services

This award is based on our monthly Top ISPs report, which tracks dial-up ISP performance in several categories from data compiled by eTesting Labs' Internet BenchMark service. Each month, AT&T WorldNet scores high marks in performance, including the shortest logon times, a low call-failure rate (fewer busy signals or dropped calls) and initial modem connect speed.

Best of the Tests Award winner: WorldNet

Mobile management

From a field of 20, we selected iConverse's Mobile Studio and Interaction Server combination because it's the best at extending enterprise applications into the mobile computing realm. In particular, iConverse's product won for its superior user interface and support for a range of devices.

Best of the Tests Award winner: Mobile Studio 2.0 and Interaction Server 2.0

Multimedia networking

In our first-ever test of network-based services, Activate's streaming media service edged out Yahoo's Broadcast due to its exceptional ability to deliver on-demand applications and its strong finish in our live-event broadcasting tests. Activate, bought by Loudeye Technologies in September, also topped multimedia point products from PictureTel and FlipFactory.

Best of the Tests Award winner: Activate streaming media service

Network management

Sitara Networks' quality-of-service appliance, QoSWorks 10000, earned the top spot in this crowded category. This box, which sits between a LAN and a WAN router, lets network pros manage expensive network bandwidth. It supports data rates up to 100M bit/sec with its Pentium III 600-MHz processor and dual 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet interfaces. It also has a sophisticated Web-based management interface.

Best of the Tests Award winner: QoSWorks 10000

Security

Nokia's VPN gear finished in a dead heat with products from Check Point Software, Cisco and Lucent in our October shoot-out based on interoperability, management and performance. But when we factored in its stellar performance in our VPN high-availability tests from last December, the CryptoCluster 2500 earned the top spot undisputed.

Best of the Tests Award winner: CryptoCluster 2500

Enterprise switch/routers

Among the variety of Ethernet and optical switch/routers tested, Cisco's Catalyst 6509 came out on top based on performance. For advanced network configurations such as those requiring link aggregation, fast failover and traffic prioritization, our tests show Cisco's Catalyst 6509 is better equipped than its rivals.

Best of the Tests Award winner: Catalyst 6509

Web-acceleration tools

Our tests showed that CacheFlow's new Server Accelerator 725, which off-loads content-delivery tasks from Web servers, can boost Web server performance by eight-fold. That's the main reason it earned top honors in this category. Plus, the SA 725 was easy to install and offered excellent redundancy.

Best of the Tests Award winner: Server Accelerator 725

Web site management

From a field of products that addresses everything from application management to access control, Securant Technologies' ClearTrust SecureControl tops our list due to its unique features. It ships with "smart rules" that allow or deny access to a Web site depending on definable user attributes; has a "rule-testing" feature that lets you select a user account and resources and verify access permissions; and "event actions" features that can trigger another task when a system event occurs.

Best of the Tests Award winner: ClearTrust SecureControl 4.5

Wireless

Cisco's Aironet 340 wireless LAN access point was the hands-down winner in this category, garnering the highest score we awarded all year long. It earned such a high grade when lined up against eight competing products because it delivered the best mix of performance and manageability.

Best of the Tests Award winner: Aironet 340

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