Exhibitors at the Interop 2008 show in Las Vegas this week vied for more than just the attention of potential future clients attending the event; these companies also hoped to get additional industry attention by winning one of the Best of Interop awards, judged by editors and experts from InformationWeek.

 

Those companies that rose to the top were recognized in an awards ceremony Tuesday. Awards were given out in ten categories, plus one overall “Best of Interop (News - Alert)” award. To be eligible, companies must have announced the product being judged on or after January 1, 2008, and have that product on display at Interop.

 

Eight main categories were used to select products in various segments of the information technology (IT) industry. These categories were: Data Centers and Storage, Infrastructure; Network Application Performance Optimization; Network Management, Software and Services; Security; Software; VoIP and Collaboration; and Wireless and Mobility.

 

Two special awards were also given — Best Startup and Green Award. The winners of these were Vidyo, Inc., and Foundry Networks, respectively.

 

Vidyo (News - Alert) is new company based in Hackensack, New Jersey, that offers a low-cost videoconferencing solution. The solution — which encompasses a router, desktop client, portal, gateway and room system —  took two years to develop, InformationWeek reported, and began shipping this March.

 

Foundry Networks (News - Alert), based on Santa Clara, California, offers a variety of switching, routing, security and applications traffic management solutions for enterprises and service providers. The company aims to deliver end-to-end networking solutions that hit the sweet spot in terms of price and performance.

 

The overall “Best of Interop” award was given to Palo Alto Networks, which also snagged the Security category award.

 

Palo Alto (News - Alert) Networks specializes in solutions that enable visibility into and control over applications running on enterprise networks. Its PA-4000 Series firewall is based on App-ID classification technology, and is designed to accurately identify applications (regardless of protocol, port, SSL encryption or evasive tactics) at 10Gbps without degrading network performance.

 

Steve Mullaney, vice president of marketing at Palo Alto Networks, said organizations and employees want to capitalize on new applications to improve productivity and communications, but are often hampered in doing so by the necessary safeguards associated with security and compliance.

 

“The PA-4000 Series was built from the ground up to accommodate those requirements,  Mullaney said in a statement. “Given the caliber of the competition and the judging criteria, we’re especially thrilled by the validation the Best of Interop award signals for our technology, product and vision. It’s a real honor.”

 

Winners in the other categories were: