1999
Products Of The Year
[Go To Products Of The Year List] [Click here to read press release]
Last year, when we announced our first-ever Products of the Year, we talked about the
importance of education in the marketplace. The more things change in this rapidly growing
industry, the more they stay the same. Education is still the name of the game when it
comes to Internet Telephony� Magazine's annual
Products of the Year feature.
This year's feature offers an expanded list of categories and winners. The Testing
category, for example, has grown from three to seven winners. The Web-Enabled Call Center
Products category has grown from two winners to seven. That we've selected more winners in
certain categories, and in fact have expanded the list of categories themselves to number
nearly 40, is a testament to the growth this market has undergone in just the past year.
Categories that simply didn't exist a year ago are now represented in this roster. And,
based on early press releases and other forward-looking materials I've seen recently
(hint: the acquisition race is just heating up), next year will see a whole slew of new
entrants as well as the demise of certain categories and vendors altogether. Don't you
just love a dynamic young industry?
As with last year's winners' list, this year's feature highlights some companies you've
never heard of as well as industry stalwarts who remain masters of innovation. The
newcomers stand side by side with the veterans as companies that deserve your attention.
And that, after all, is exactly what this list is all about. A "Who's Who" of
companies that merit a closer look before you spend dime one. This list should serve as
proof that there are many choices that confront you as you search out products and
solutions to purchase and implement. No Internet telephony scouting report would be
complete if you simply chose the first vendor you found online. Likewise, no research
would be complete if you did not look at all of the companies listed under a particular
category.
That is what we mean when we talk about education. We offer this list as a starting
point when researching the companies whose products and services you will be looking to
implement. Study it. Take the time to do your homework. Call the vendors. E-mail them. Ask
questions: Lots of them. Only then will you feel comfortable with your decision to choose
one company's wares over another's.
Last year, I wrote that the list was designed to draw attention to those vendors whose
products helped a fledgling technology develop into an unimagined telecommunications
(r)evolution. But who, looking back at 1999, would even think of mentioning
"fledgling" and our industry in the same sentence? No matter. The vendors
mentioned on the following pages are looking ahead, leading the charge, and laying the
groundwork for the next generation of global telecommunications.
- Greg Galitzine
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