Portable computing devices with built-in connectivity took top honors in BYTE's second annual
Best of CeBIT awards
. The awards recognize important and innovative new products shown at the annual international technology exposition held in Hannover, Germany. The
Nokia 9000
, a GSM-standard phone from Nokia Mobile Phones (+358 10 5051;
http://www.nokia.com
) won
Best of Show and Best Communications Hardware
for its integration of personal-organizer applications and communications (e.g., fax, e-mail, and Web browsing).
The Pilot
, a 5.5-ounce pe
rsonal organizer with built-in PC connectivity, from Palm Computing ((800) 881-7256;
http://www.usr.com
), won
Best Portable
.
Best Technology
winner was the
Cyrix 6x86
, from Cyrix ((214) 968-8388;
http://www.cyrix.com
) and manufacturing partner IBM. Altho
ugh Cyrix's sixth-generation P166+ actually runs at 133 MHz, it delivers equivalent or better performance on most applications than a 166-MHz Pentium processor.
Compaq Computer's ((800) 888-5858;
http://www.compaq.com
) 166-MHz Pentium-based
Deskpro
won
Best System
, thanks to its 120-MB floppy drive, optional scanner keyboard, and other features.
Best Peripheral
was Tektronix's ((800) 835-6100;
http://www.tek.com/color_printers
)
Phaser 550
, a 1200- by 1200-dot-per-inch color laser printer.
Visual Web
, from Innovative Software (+49 211 903130;
http://www.isg.de
) won
Best Internet Product
. Availab
le now for Windows 95 and NT and OS/2 Warp (and, soon, other OSes), this browser and off-line reader provides a panoramic view of Web sites and enables you to download pages for off-line browsing.
Best Communications Software
winner was
RVS-COM
, a suite of programs for ISDN connectivity from RVS Datentechnik (+49 89 357 157 0;
http://www.rvscom.com
).
An unusual
six-way tie for
Best Multimedia Hardware
went to companies that released 2-D/3-D graphics-accelerator cards based on S3's ViRGe chip, which accelerates 3-D DOS and Windows (including the forthcoming Direct3D) applications. The six companies,
Diamond Multimedia, Elsa, Hercules, Number Nine Visual Technologies, Orchid (a Micronics company), and STB Systems
, expect to release thes
e boards for about $250.
Best Multimedia Software
winner was DataPath's (+49 6071 9630 0;
http://www.realimation.com
)
Realimation
. This Windows-based environment enables you to create virtual worlds and interactive 3-D multimedia presentations. The award for
Best Application
went to Star Division's (+49 40 23 646 810;
http://www.stardiv.de
)
StarOffice
, a multiplatform office suite for Windows, OS/2, Power Macs, and Unix.
Best Development Software
winner was the
ComUnity Open Technology Framework
from Sieme
ns Nixdorf (+49 5251 810585;
http://www.siemens-nixdorf.com
). ComUnity, a development environment for Microsoft's Visual Basic 4.0, provides a framework for building large-scale client/server applications.
Portable Devices Highlight Best of CeBIT
