Microsoft Tech•Ed took place in Atlanta this year—and a month earlier in the year than usual, avoiding the oppressive heat that afflicted last year's humid New Orleans event. In tune with the weather, Tech•Ed was a cool and cloudy affair, with talk about the cloud filling the convention hall—while Penton Media editors roamed the hall floor interviewing Best of Tech•Ed Award finalists.
The Best of Tech•Ed Awards recognize Microsoft partners that offer innovative products and services in the marketplace. Our judging panel—consisting of Windows IT Pro, SQL Server Magazine, DevProConnections, and SharePoint Pro editors Michael Otey, Sean Deuby, Amy Eisenberg, Jason Bovberg, Jeff James, Zac Wiggy, and Caroline Marwitz—narrowed an impressive field of more than 300 submissions down to 46 finalists in 16 categories. Onsite in Atlanta, the team interviewed the finalists and evaluated the products to determine a final list of winners. As always, the three criteria for the judging process were strategic importance, competitive advantage, and value to customers. Show attendees also cast their votes to determine the winner of the prestigious Attendees' Pick Award.
Following is a list of Best of Tech•Ed Award winners offering developer-oriented products. You can find a complete list of Best of Tech•Ed Award 2011 Award winners here. Congratulations, 2011 winners!
Business Intelligence
ComponentOne OLAP for Silverlight
ComponentOne's OLAP for Silverlight enables you to create interactive reports, charts, pivot tables, and dashboards. Custom end-user views can be persisted and reports can be distributed as PDFs. This product fills an important need by bringing OLAP data-analysis capabilities to businesses without the need for complex BI infrastructures.
Database Development
Red Gate SQL Developer Bundle
DBA Developer Bundle is a collection of ten SQL Server development tools, including SQL Prompt (which helps you write T-SQL scripts), SQL Source Control (which facilitates teams development), and SQL Compare and Data Compare (which compare and synchronize databases), and SQL Search (which locates database objects). This product's seamless integration with SQL Server Management Studio makes it an essential tool for the database developer.
SharePoint Development
K2/SourceCode K2 blackpearl
K2 blackpearl is a business process management solution for SharePoint that lets you automate and streamline business processes including workflows. It's a Silverlight-based solution that offers three design environments in which devs, admins, and power users can create SharePoint workflows, processes, and applications. The visual, easy-to-use design tools, wizards, and inline functions let you assemble new solutions from information you already have—in some cases without having to use code. K2 blackpearl also offers views into processes and reports on bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
Software Development
DevExpress DXperience Universal
DevExpress DXperience Universal is an enterprise-level component suite that enables developers to build Windows Forms, ASP.NET, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), and Silverlight applications. DXperience includes all the company's UI controls as well as the Object Relational Framework and productivity tools. All the components support themes and skinning. Multi-threaded controls enable the UI to be responsive while performing data retrieval. The CodeRush and Refactor Pro! features enable developers to write better code faster.
Original article by Jason Bovberg, senior editor for Windows IT Pro and SQL Server Magazine.