By Ann Bednarz and Julie Bort
Network World, 12/24/01

Professional athletes play the game, but they don't make the rules. Without owners, coaches and league officials, there would be no professional sports.

Likewise, vendor power brokers couldn't exist without their owners — the corporate users who buy their wares and pay their salaries. Without standard-setters to assist product development and policymakers to shape the rules, there wouldn't be much of a market.

And just as television executives flood teams with money and media keep up the color commentary, the IT industry has its venture capitalists to float newcomers and analysts to sort through the hype.

The Network World staff and trusted advisors voted to single out these 50 individuals. From product development choices to enterprise deployment decisions, they control the ball when it comes to networking.

Power executives Power users Power standard-setters Power in D.C. Power thinkers Power profile: AT&T's Dave Dorman Power profile: Cisco's Mario Mazzola Power profile: IBM's Sam Palmisano Power profile: Microsoft's Eric Rudder Power profile: Verizon's Ivan Seidenberg