Best Channel Products 2011 – Business Solutions Magazine

Business Solutions Magazine (BSM) has published the results of their “Best Channel Products 2011" survey. Fortinet, SonicWall, and AVG Technologies dominated the Network Security category. In the area of Network Security, below are the top products from the survey.

Email Security

• AVG Internet Security Business Edition -Top 2 Categories: Ease Of Integration, Ease Of Upgrade
• Fortinet FortiMail-3000C - Top 2 Categories: Reliability/Durability, Features/Functionality

Endpoint Security

• AVG Internet Security Business Edition - Top 2 Categories: Features/Functionality, Reliability/Durability
• Fortinet FortiClient - Top 2 Categories: Reliability/Durability, Ease Of Integration

Unified Threat Management

• Fortinet FortiGate-80C - Top 2 Categories: Features/Functionality, Reliability/Durability
• SonicWALL TZ Series - Top 2 Categories: Reliability/Durability, Features/Functionality

Web Content Filtering

• Fortinet FortiWeb-1000C -Top 2 Categories: Reliability/Durability, Ease Of Integration
• SonicWALL Content Filtering Service (CFS) - Top 2 Categories: Ease Of Integration, Ease Of Upgrade

Fortinet had a pair of products that were finalists for SC Magazine (US) Reader Trust Awards 2011. These were for Best Enterprise Firewall and for Best Integrated Security UTM.

Other categories in the survey were: Data Collection, ECM, General Computing, Managed Services & Networking, Networking, Physical Security (Access Control & Video Surveillance), Point of Sale & Payment Processing, Storage, and Unified Communications & VoIP.

Methodology for Business Solutions Magazine Best Channel Products 2011


Business Solutions Magazine partnered with Penn State University to conduct the survey. During the web survey, they collected 11,711 votes from 1,490 discrete reseller subscribers. Questions in the survey were:

• Richness of Features/Functionality: Does the product meet your customers' functionality needs? Is it easily configurable? Is it easily customizable (i.e. scalable and flexible)?
• Product Reliability/Durability: Does the product meet your quality needs? Do you frequently need to fix the product? Is it durable enough to withstand regular usage?
• Ease of Integration: Is it easily integrated with other products — new or existing?
• Ease of Upgrade: Is it easily upgradeable to meet your customers' needs and technology changes?
• VAR's Ability to Service: Is the product easy for you to service?

For more details on the methodology http://www.bsminfo.com/article.mvc/Best-Channel-Products-2011-Survey-Methodology-0001

For the complete article on Business Solutions Magazine Best Channel Products 2011 http://bsminfo.com/article.mvc/Best-Channel-Products-Page-2011-0001#Index

Business Solutions Magazine Announces Business Solutions Best Channel Vendors 2011

Business Solutions Magazine (BSM) has published the results of their second annual “Best Channel Vendors 2011” survey. The winners were rated exceptional (top 5%) in categories pertaining to their overall channel program.

Categories VARs were surveyed in: Data Collection & Mobility, Managed Services, Point Of Sale Hardware, Data Collection Media , Mobile Computing , Point Of Sale Software, ECM Hardware , Network Security , Power Protection, ECM Software, Networking, Storage, General Computing, Payment Processing, Wireless Networking, Labeling Software, Physical Security, and VoIP

BSM Best Channel Vendors 2011 – Network Security

These vendors made the cut in network security. They are not listed by their overall score.

Barracuda Networks
Top 2 Categories: (1) Channel Friendly, (2) Product Innovation

Kaspersky Lab
Top 2 Categories: (1) Product Innovation, (2) Channel Friendly

SonicWALL
Top 2 Categories: (1) Product Reliability, (2) Product Features

Juniper Networks
Top 2 Categories: (1) Product Features, (2) Product Reliability

Symantec
Top 2 Categories: (1) Product Features, (2) Channel Friendly

Both Kaspersky and Symantec had internet security solutions that scored highly in PC World's “Battle of the Security Superpowers” and PC Magazine's "Best Security Suites for 2011” http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/12/pc-world-battle-of-security-superpowers.html

Survey Methodology

Business Solutions Magazine collaborated with Penn State University and surveyed Business Solutions Magazine (BSM) subscribers. Respondents were asked to rate their vendor partners on a scale of 0 to 5 in these categories: Service/Support, Channel Friendly , Channel Program, Product Features, Product Reliability, Product Innovation, and Adequate VAR Margins.

Ultimately, over 11,504 votes from 2,437 unique reseller subscribers were collected. Ballots that couldn’t be verified as BSM subscribers were eliminated. Penn State University performed the hard number crunching. BSM tightened the grading criteria and chose the top 5% of channel vendors in each category for 2011. Last year, 15% was the cutoff.

Go to the link below for complete results and additional details on the selected vendors:
http://www.bsminfo.com/article.mvc/Business-Solutions-Best-Channel-Vendors-2011-0002