A leader in network management software, SolarWinds, announced today that two of its products received SearchNetworking.com™ 2008 Product Leadership Awards: a comprehensive fault and network performance management platform, Orion, earned a Gold in Network Monitoring, and an affordable, turnkey network monitoring solution designed for the small- and medium-sized business, ipMonitor, received a Silver in Applications and Network Management.

The Product Leadership Awards span 12 networking product categories and recognize 36 products that enterprise IT professionals should consider adding to their "A" lists of networking products to evaluate. Based on their assessment of products currently deployed within their own enterprises, winning products were selected by 1,800 networking professionals. With cumulative scores calculated for each product, participants were asked to evaluate the networking products according to defined product-specific criteria each of which was assigned a weighed value based on importance. SearchNetworking.com editors used these scores to determine Gold, Silver and Bronze award winners for the industry's best networking products.

"Our readers found them [SolarWinds noteworthy enough to award Orion the gold in network performance management in 2007, and they haven't changed their minds…. survey respondents praised Orion most for its ability to identify network problems, with 84% of users rating it good or excellent. Eighty-one percent of respondents called the product's ease of management and maintenance good or excellent, and 81% were equally impressed with its network integration and interoperability…. Users valued ipMonitor's network management capabilities… the product's ability to measure application quality or experience… [and ipMonitor's ease of management and maintenance", according to SearchNetworking.com.

SolarWinds' Chief Product Strategist Kenny Van Zant said: "It is an honor to be named as the Product Leadership Award Winner Gold in the network monitoring category and Silver in the application and network management category, especially as we were selected by the networking professionals that we serve". "This is the second time we have won in the network management category which further validates that the SolarWinds approach to network monitoring and management - providing software that is easy-to-use, downloadable, feature rich and affordable - is the one that end users continue to look for and choose."