Toshiba, Compaq And Microsoft Named to Industry Hot Products List

VARBusiness Hot Products List Names the Most-Preferred Computer Hardware And Software Products as Selected by Value Added Resellers (VARs)

PRNewswire
MANHASSET, N.Y.
May 12, 1997

Value added resellers (VARs) who want first-hand knowledge about which products are performing best in the market and vendors who want to know if their products made the cut will be referring to the May 15 issue of CMP's VARBusiness. The issue features the Hot Products List, a round-up of the most-preferred computer products as selected by a group of 750 VARs and integrators polled by VARBusiness. The VARBusiness Hot Products List features winners in highly-competitive categories ranging from Internet server software to systems and network hardware to various peripherals. In the laptop category, the Toshiba Tecra 740CDT received top nod, while the Compaq Deskpro 4000 and Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0 won in the Desktop PC and Internet Software Server categories, respectively. The full list of winners and VAR reviews are also available on the Web at http://www.varbiz.com/.

"Who better to gauge what is or isn't performing than the VARs who are integrating these products into their customers' solutions or installing these products at their customer's sites?" VARBusiness Publisher Jeff Sundheim said. "The Hot Products List lets VARs know which products to recommend to their customers, and who is or isn't manufacturing products that are going to keep customers happy. "To determine the winners, VARBusiness asked VARs if they currently resell, recommend or specify products in 20 categories, including printers, servers, Web page devlopment tools and Internet security software. VARs responded with their preferences only within the product categories they are currently involved. Questions were completely open- ended/unaided, and VARBusiness did not offer the VARs the mes of any vendors and models.

Following is the complete list of winners featured on the VARBusiness Hot Products List:

     Systems                     Winner
  Desktop PCs                 Compaq Deskpro 4000
  Notebooks/Laptops           Toshiba Tecra 740CDT
  Intel Servers               Compaq Proliant 5000
  RISC Servers                IBM RS/6000 J40

     Software                     Winner
  Network Operating Systems   Microsoft NT Server 4.0
  SQL Databases               Microsoft SQL Server 6.5
  Network Management Server   Microsoft Systems Management Server
  1.2(SMS)
  Internet Server Software    Microsoft Internet Information
  Server 3.0 (IIS)
  Web Page Development        Microsoft Front Page 97
  Internet Security           Secure Computing Sidewinder
                              Security Server 3.0
    Networking                  Winner
  Bridges/Routrs             Cisco 2500 series
  Switches                    3Com Linkswitch 500
  Hubs                        3Com SuperStack II Series

    Peripherals                  Winner
  Monitors                    NEC MultiSync XV17 Series
  Hard Drives                 Seagate Barracuda 4LP
  Tape Backup                 HP SureStoreT4i
  Video Sound & Graphics      Diamond Multimedia Stealth 3D 3000XL
  Cards
  Printers                    HP Laser Jet5
  Scanners                    HP ScanJet 4C
  UPS                         APC Smart UPS 700

VARBusiness, currently celebrating its tenth anniversary, has a qualified circulation of 105,040. The publication provides expert insight and trend analysis about products and technologies that help VARs, integrators, software developers and consultants grow their businesses.

CMP Media Inc. provides publishing, marketing and information services to the broad high-technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology -- through print and electronic media. All of CMP's publications and online products can be accessed through the company's TechWeb® site on the World Wide Web (http://www.techweb.com/). In addition to VARBusiness, CMP's Channel Group print titles include Computer Reseller News and Computer Retail Week.

SOURCE CMP Media Inc.

-0- 05/12/97

CONTACT: Leslie Dunbar, 516-562-7040 or ldunbar@cmp.com, or
Catherine Jarrat Koatz, 516-562-7827 or ckoatz@cmp.com, both of CMP Media