Best of VMworld 2021 Awards: Rules and criteria
Read the updated rules, criteria and categories for the Best of VMworld 2021 Awards to find out what the requirements are for each product nomination.
TechTarget's Best of VMworld Awards recognize the most outstanding products at VMware's annual user conference.
TechTarget is now accepting nominations for the Best of VMworld 2021 Awards. The nomination window will remain open until 5 p.m. PST on Wednesday, September 8th, 2021. The winners will be virtually announced by SearchServerVirtualization. Before nominating a product, please read the official rules and awards criteria.
A team of expert judges -- consisting of editors, independent analysts, consultants and users -- will evaluate the nominated products and select winners in the following categories:
- Business Continuity and Data Protection
- Multi-Cloud and App Modernization
- Security, Networking and Edge
See the full category descriptions and judging criteria below.
A Best of Show winner will also be selected from the individual category winners; nomination forms cannot be submitted for this category. If you nominate multiple products, please complete one form per product. The same product may not be entered in multiple categories.
Only products that have shipped and are available between August 6, 2020, and August 31, 2021, will be considered for this year's awards. The product must be generally available before the submission period closes. Products that are generally available after August 31, 2021, will be eligible for next year's awards. All product nomination forms must include a link to a public announcement, press release or other proof of availability containing the official product general availability date.
Nominations must also include the name and contact information for at least one customer reference. This customer must have access to the exact version of the generally available product for which the nomination is submitted (i.e., if the nomination is for version 1.2 of the product, the customer must have access to version 1.2). Judges may contact customer references, but their names and contact information will not be shared or published.
In previous years, only vendors with a physical booth presence were eligible to participate in the Best of VMworld Awards. This year's event will be virtual; vendors must be a sponsor of the digital event. Not all nominees will be contacted directly by judges or interviewed in person.
Submissions that fail to follow rules and regulations will be disqualified.
If you have questions about your eligibility or the Best of VMworld Awards nomination process, email [email protected].
Best of VMworld 2021 Awards judging criteria
Judges will evaluate products in each category based on the following areas:
Innovation. Does the product introduce new capabilities or significant improvements? Does it break new ground?
Performance. Does the product perform to a degree that it could improve overall data center operation?
Ease of integration into environment. How easily does the product integrate with other products? Can the product operate effectively in heterogeneous environments?
Ease of use and manageability. Is the product easy to install? Are the product's functions clear and easy to learn and run? Will the product scale to accommodate growth?
Functionality. Does the product deliver as promised? Does it provide greater or more useful functionality than others in its category?
Value. Does the product represent a cost-effective solution? Can its return on investment be easily justified?
Fills a market gap. What needs does the product uniquely meet? What problems does it solve?
Best of VMworld 2021 Awards categories
Please review the category descriptions carefully before nominating products. Remember, you may only enter a product in one category. If you believe a product is eligible for more than one category, use your best judgment in choosing a category, drawing from the examples included in the category descriptions and customer expectations. Judges have the authority to reassign products entered in the wrong category.
Business Continuity and Data Protection
Eligible entrants include hardware and software products or cloud services that are designed to manage, back up, restore and replicate data in private or public cloud environments. Examples include backup software data management software and disaster recovery as a service.
Multi-cloud and App Modernization
Eligible entrants include hardware and software products that enable organizations to build on-premises virtual infrastructures, support multiple cloud environments and update legacy applications to run on cloud-native frameworks. Examples include private and hybrid cloud infrastructure, hyper-converged infrastructure appliances, and software products for managing or virtualizing hardware. Other examples include container management and orchestration software.
Security, Networking and Edge
Eligible entrants include hardware and software products that monitor and protect hypervisors, guest OSes, and enforce security protocols. These could also be products that enhance networking in virtual or cloud networks and/or optimize virtual networks. Entrants should enable organizations to build edge computing infrastructure. Examples include software defined networking, distributed cloud software, edge platforms, firewalls and threat detection tools.
To submit a product for consideration, please fill out the nomination form.
