IT Brand Pulse Honoring 2014 Ethernet and Software Defined Data Center Innovation Leaders at Ethernet Technology Summit

San Diego, CA – April 28, 2014 – IT Brand Pulse, a trusted source of research, data and analysis about IT infrastructure, will be honoring Innovation Leaders in five Ethernet Networking, eight Software Defined Networking, and one Software Defined Storage product category — along with one special award to Google for Ethernet Innovation over the past five years. All winners resulted from votes by IT professionals in a recent brand leader survey. The awards ceremony takes center stage on Wednesday, April 30, from 6:00 pm – 6:30 pm in the Exhibit Hall at the Ethernet Technology Summit (Santa Clara Convention Center).

“In 2013, tier-1 storage vendors seized SSD brand leadership through acquisition and intense marketing,” said Frank Berry, CEO and Analyst with IT Brand Pulse. “In 2014, the louder voice of tier-1 networking vendors echoed in the results of the SDN brand leader survey.”

The list of companies that stand out in the minds of IT professionals for network-related innovation in 2014 includes:

  • Cisco captured seven awards for innovation in Ethernet Core Switches, Ethernet Top of Rack Switches, Enterprise Network Operating System, SDN ASICs, SDN Switch, SDN Virtual Switches,and SDN Controllers.
  • VMware, the server virtualization pioneer, was named as innovation leader for Network SDN Orchestration Software, SDN Platform, Layer 4-7 SDN Services Platform, and Software Defined Storage.
  • Microsoft was the IT pros pick as the innovation leader for SDN Monitoring.
  • SolarWinds, the company that best leverages its website to develop business, was chosen as innovation leader for Ethernet Network Monitoring for the second year in a row.
  • Intel, the LAN-on-Motherboard innovation leader in an earlier 2014 brand leader survey, was selected as the innovation leader for Enterprise Ethernet NICs.
  • Google was voted the IT organization that contributed most to Ethernet innovation during the last 5 years.

About the Brand Leader Surveys

IT Brand Pulse awards are the symbols for brand leadership. Winners are voted by IT pros and the surveys are independent, non-sponsored research. The surveys are designed to measure the pulse of brand leadership in specific product categories. Within each product category, respondents choose the overall market leader, as well as the leader in price, performance, reliability, service and support, and innovation. Respondents are provided with a category description at the start of each product section, a randomized choice of vendors answer, and the ability to write-in a vendor if not listed.

Respondents to our surveys have included (select list): AT&T – Server Administrator/Architect; Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) – Storage Administrator/Architect; Boeing – Data Center Manager; Booz Allen Hamilton – Network Security Architect; CalPERS, State of CA – Network Administrator/Architect; Caterpillar – Server Administrator/Architect; Citigroup – Network Administrator/Architect; City of Los Angeles – IT Manager/Director; Delta Airlines – Server Administrator/Architect; Duke University – IT Manager/Director; EarthLink – Server Administrator/Architect; Environmental Protection Agency – Network Administrator/Architect; ExxonMobil – Network Administrator/Architect; Fermilab – Network Administrator/Architect; Ford Motor Company – Network Administrator/Architect; GE – IT Manager/Director; General Dynamics – Network Administrator/Architect; General Motors – Server Administrator/Architect; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab – IT Manager/Director; JP Morgan – IT Manager/Director; Lockheed Martin – IT Manager/Director; Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) – Network Administrator/Architect; Lowe’s – Storage Administrator/Architect; Mattel Inc.- IT Manager/Director; Morgan Stanley – Network Administrator/Architect; NASA – IT Manager/Director; National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) – Network Administrator/Architect; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – IT Manager/Director; Northrop Grumman – Network Administrator/Architect; Oppenheimer – Executive/Management; PepsiCo – Storage Administrator/Architect; Porsche Cars North America – Network Administrator/Architect; REI – Server Administrator/Architect; Sandia National Labs – Network Administrator/Architect; Shell – Storage Administrator/Architect; Social Security Administration (SSA) – Server Administrator/Architect; Stanford University – Network Administrator/Architect; Staples – Network Administrator/Architect; Target – IT Manager/Director; The University of Chicago – Server Administrator/Architect; ThomsonReuters -Server Administrator/Architect; T-Mobile – Data Center Manager; Transamerica – Storage Administrator/Architect; UBS – Executive/Management; UCLA – IT Manager/Director; United Airlines – Network Administrator/Architect; Universal Parks and Resort – IT Manager/Director; University Of Michigan- Data Center Manager; University of Michigan Medical School – IT Manager/Director; University of Notre Dame – Storage Administrator/Architect; USC – Network Administrator/Architect; Verizon – Network Administrator/Architect; Yale University – IT Manager/Director…among many others…

About IT Brand Pulse

IT Brand Pulse is a trusted source of research, data and analysis about private, public and hybrid cloud IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, networking and operating platforms. Learn more at www.itbrandpulse.com.