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The finalists in this year's eWEEK Excellence Awards reflect a
mix of big and small vendors and old-guard and upstart products, as
well as some interesting technology trends.
We started accepting entries for our fifth annual program in
November. The program was open to any enterprise product or service
that had been announced in 2004 and that would be available before
March 31, 2005.
The initial categorization of entries was performed by eWEEK
Labs, and we determined a need this year to expand the number of
categories we've used in the past. Regulatory mandates, the need for
a broader application of security technologies and a more integrated
business environment are just some of the forces that have combined
to create more stringent and more multidisciplinary technology
demands.
In the five years we've been running the Excellence Awards
program, we've been impressed with the field of entered candidates.
This year, however, the Excellence Awards judges—eWEEK analysts and
members of the eWEEK Corporate Partner Advisory Board—found the
process of determining finalists especially challenging.
"More than ever before, the Excellence field this year showed
that IT vendors are trying to deliver what enterprise professionals
need, not just following the least-resistance path of technology
progress," said Peter Coffee, eWEEK technology editor.
For more information on all the finalists and to see what product
won in each category, check out the April 11 issue. 
Executive Editor Debra Donston can be reached at debra_donston@ziffdavis.com. | 
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