The Top 10 Products of the Year 2008

This was a review which was done by eweek labs for listing out top 10 products of the year.At the end of each year, eWEEK Labs analysts look back on the products they have reviewed and pick the ones that stand out for their innovation and ability to meet the ever-changing—and increasingly challenging—needs of the enterprise. Combined, the products on this year’s list form the foundation of the next-gen enterprise.

Adobe AIR
People Now started working on Rich internet applications. What have become the next generation of RIAs are Web applications that can run independently of a browser—applications that run like those on a desktop but that still use Web services and interfaces for data and interactivity.The product that comes closest right now to the true vision of this next-generation Web application is Adobe AIR.

Agito RoamAnywhere Solution

With its new emphasis on enterprise-grade redundancy and security—as well as integration into Cisco’s Motion to aid in roaming decisions among networks—Agito’s RoamAnywhere Solution builds upon its already outstanding fingerprint location deterministics, line-side PBX integration and solid client-side software. All of this provides an outstanding solution to help extend companies’ existing infrastructure to the mobile work force.

Cisco Catalyst 4900M
Cisco Systems’ newly minted Catalyst 4900M can help network engineers navigate the transition to 10G by offering a mixture of fixed and swappable, card-based ports.

Firefox 3
with the release of Firefox 3, Mozilla cemented its place at the top of the Web browser pile.

The latest release of Firefox hit all of the standard browser notes, with improved security, usability and customization options. However, some of the biggest improvements were under the covers, especially in offline capabilities and the browser’s ability to integrate with and take advantage of next-generation Web technologies

iPhone 2.0 + the AppStore
Apple truly hit the mark with the iPhone 2.0 software that came preloaded on the new devices and was available as a free upgrade for first-generation units.

The new software made the iPhone palatable for enterprise consumption—adding improved Wi-Fi security, a Cisco VPN client and support for Microsoft Exchange e-mail environments—even though the enterprise management tools for the iPhone are still lacking.

IXIA iSimCity

Network performance test maker IXIA launched its iSimCity lab in Silicon Valley in February. In Phase 1, iSimCity focused on classic switch and router testing. In subsequent phases, iSimCity is expected to host data center performance benchmarks, including VOIP gateways, video servers, firewalls and e-mail.

Nokia E71

Nokia really knocked it out of the park with the E71, packing just about everything a user—or a third-party mobile software developer—could want from a smartphone. Despite its relatively small screen and lack of a touch-screen interface, the E71 was the best overall device eWEEK Labs tested this year.

Ubuntu 8.04
Ubuntu 8.04—specifically in its desktop iteration—has earned a spot on our list of top products of 2008 by bridging the enterprise-vs.-enthusiast divide with a freely available Linux-based OS and a support term of three years, compared with about 18 months for Red Hat's and Novell's enthusiast distributions.

VMware VI3

VMware’s Virtual Infrastructure 3 offers enterprises an impressive, mature framework for making virtualization promises a reality.

Windows Server 2008

At a time when Vista missteps had many questioning Microsoft's product development mojo, the release of Windows Server 2008 demonstrated that the company is capable of putting out a lean and well-performing operating system with features in sync with customer needs.

for more information: