A Better Idea
The Wall Street Journal's 2005
Technology Innovation Awards competition lauds innovative technologies
from around the world in categories including biotechnology, software,
security, energy and the environment, among others. Judges selected
Gold, Silver and Bronze winners, as well as giving out an Honorable
Mention award. They also named winners in each of 12 categories and
a total of 20 runners-up.
Riverbed Technology Inc. of San
Francisco won for its Steelhead network
appliances, which speed the transfer of data and use of applications
between remote offices and central servers. As many corporate computer
users know, when emails, documents or spreadsheets are stored on a
distant central computer, the wait to call up or change files can
sometimes seem endless. Riverbed's appliance reduces these delays
by storing redundant commands and data on local servers, slashing
the amount of traffic that goes back and
forth over the network and increasing overall network speed.
The technology is a "clever
solution to a universal problem that until now has not received a
lot of attention," says one of the judges, Ms. Greene.
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