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KUALA LUMPUR, October 13, 2008 Microsoft Malaysia was the stand-out performer—followed by Cisco, IBM, HP, SAP and Symantec—in the prestigious 7th annual Readers Choice Awards. The awards, which have been dubbed the ‘Oscars of the Malaysian IT community’, have been presented this evening by leading technology and business publication Computerworld Malaysia. The coveted Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards go to vendors that score well with their customers (who vote for products) in the areas of price, performance, functions and ease of use of their products and services. There were more than 750 product and service contenders in 45 product categories this year, nearly a 33 per cent increase over the number of contenders seen last year. At a ceremony this evening at the Mandarin Oriental, technology companies proudly received a total of 45 Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards trophies. There were seven award sections this year; Platform & Tools, Security, Enterprise Applications, Communications, Storage, Hardware and Services. Microsoft took home three awards (system management software, application servers, IT asset management systems) in the Platform & Tools section; three awards (identity management, patch management software, content filtering) in the Security section; two awards (collaboration platform and enterprise content management) in the Enterprise Applications section and one award (service oriented architecture) in the Services section. Cisco won three awards (unified communications software suites, unified communications hardware providers and video conferencing) in the Communications section and one each (enterprise firewall and VPN and enterprise routers) in the Security and hardware sections respectively. IBM garnered two awards (tape systems, enterprise disk systems) in the Storage section, two awards (consulting & Integration, support & maintenance) in the Services section and one (high-end enterprise servers) in the Hardware section. HP took home two awards (storage management software, SAN switches) in the Storage section, and two awards (entry-level servers, mid-range servers) in the Hardware section. SAP took four out of seven available awards under the Enterprise Applications section: three (for customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning and supply chain management) under its main brand name, and one (for business intelligence) from its subsidiary Business Objects. Symantec won two awards (backup software, e-mail archiving systems) in the Storage section and one (information security suites) in the Security section. The complete winners list will be available at www.computerworld.com.my/RCA08 from 14 October 2008, 9am. Andrew Smart, Asia Regional Manager of Fairfax Business Media said that winning a Readers Choice Award was one of the strongest endorsements that IT professionals from end-user organisations could give to technology vendors.“By winning a Computerworld Readers Choice Award, an enterprise receives confirmation that its product or solution has delivered on its promise and has achieved market leadership,” Smart said. “It’s heartening to see that the benchmark for quality products and services is continually being raised.” Computerworld Malaysia Deputy Editor, AvantiKumar said that the competition for the awards was fierce again this year and a broader range of products and services was nominated. “The number of products and services voted for in the awards this year, reflects the dynamic and vibrant state of the IT industry,” AvantiKumar said. “Competition was particularly tough in the enterprise applications, storage and hardware categories and all the winners deserve to be particularly proud of their achievements.” AvantiKumar—W: + 603 7804 3692—E: akumar@fairfaxbm.com |
