"What companies and/or web sites provide IT product evaluations,
especially for internet technology products, such as portal and
collaboration tools.  Both free and fee-based impartial, non-vendor
evaluations are of interest.  Would also like information on fees if possible."

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 28 Jun 2002 10:38 PDT

Hi there,

Are you looking for someone to evaluate your product so that you can
market it or make it better, or are you looking for a forum where IT
product are evaluated by industry experts and/or people who have used
it?

If you are looking for the first option, many of our Google
Researchers have plenty of IT/business experience and could provide
their opinions if the tool is available for download or online use.

Thanks,
answerguru-ga

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Clarification of Question by miketwestin-ga on 28 Jun 2002 13:15 PDT

I am looking for either a forum or specific providers of information
about IT products we may want to purchase.

Hi Mike,
Seeking evaluations on products before you purchase them is an
excellent idea that usually saves you a lot of money and grief in the
long run.  Since you did not specify any particular products you
wanted evaluations for, I will point you in the direction of a variety
of sites that do IT product evaluations and reviews.

Ovum Knowledge Management may be just what you are looking for.  Their
“detailed evaluations of the top portal vendors are based on Ovum's
well-established portal mix model.”
( http://www.ovum.com/go/product/flyer/POR.htm#P26_1082 ).   This is a
subscription service that will help you to understand portal software
and help you make the correct buying decision.

Here is a site that does Commercial Product Evaluations in two phases:
Commercial Product Evaluations
http://www.radium.ncsc.mil/tpep/index.html

The first phase is “The Trust Technology Assessment Program (TTAP) is
a joint National Security Agency (NSA) and National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) effort to establish commercial
facilities to perform trusted product evaluations.”

The second phase is “The Rating Maintenance Phase (RAMP) was
established to provide a mechanism to extend the previous rating to a
new version of a previously evaluated computer system product.”

The following page contains a large table of historical evaluations of
products the above site has made:
Historical EPL
http://www.radium.ncsc.mil/tpep/epl/historical.html

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) does product evaluations
for the visually impaired.  Summaries of their evaluations are free
upon request and appear in the “Journal of Visual Impairment and
Blindness (JVIB).”

“All product evaluations are published in AccessWorld™, AFB's
technology periodical...  A 1-year subscription to AccessWorld in your
choice of cassette, ASCII disk, braille, or large print, costs
$39.95.”

AFB Product Evaluations
http://www.afb.org/info_document_view.asp?documentid=1670

“Two Rivers is a husband & wife design team” that does website design
evaluations.
“Please contact contact@tworivers.com for pricing information.”
They do a Usability Study and a Heuristic evaluation.
Two Rivers Evaluations
http://www.tworivers.com/evaluation.html

And finally, here is a site that has links to magazine and journal
evaluations on everything from A to Z.  These magazines and journals
are for purchase.
Product evaluations magazines and journal links
http://hopcottmagazines.com/magazines/productevaluations.html

I hope this helps you find the evaluations you’re seeking.  If you
need further assistance, please request a clarificaton and I will try
to help.
Webbob


Google keywords used for search:
portal +"product evaluations"
://www.google.com/search?q=portal+%2B%22product+evaluations%22&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8

IT +"product evaluations"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&q=IT+%2B%22product+evaluations%22&btnG=Google+Search

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Clarification of Answer by webbob-ga on 28 Jun 2002 18:05 PDT

I gave you the link to why you should use Qvum, but, failed to add the
link to their home page.  So here it is:
Ovum Knowledge Management
http://www.ovum.com/go/product/flyer/POR.htm