Cadalyst Salutes!

by Sara Ferris

Once again it's time for Cadalyst's semiannual awards gala, in which we recognize the top products we've seen in the past six months. The All-Star awards salute the best of the best--the most outstanding among all products that earned five-star Highly Recommended ratings from Cadalyst Labs.

The Editors' Wow! awards come from the much larger pool of products introduced or upgraded during the first six months of the year. This is an opportunity to highlight products that appear in the online Product Showcase as well as those we see at industry events. We base our selections primarily on the Wow! factor: Is the product innovative? Distinctive compared with others on the market? Does it solve problems creatively?

If there's a theme to this year's intriguing new products, it's knowledge capture or management. Before you can reuse data, you must first capture it, then be able to find it when there's an opportunity to use it again. In addition, many thousands of engineers are expected to retire in the next decade, taking with them centuries of accumulated knowledge and experience.