This year small and mid-sized businesses saw processors go dual-core, on-demand applications take off, storage capacities soar, VoIP deliver value and much more. And, of course, every new technology promises to do more, faster and for less money.

While no product or technology will ensure business success, the wrong ones can make the challenges of running a business that much more difficult. Making the right technology decision is important for businesses of all sizes, but it's crucial for SMBs that typically don't have the time or money to not get it right the first time.

Click to go to the online ballot

So with goal of helping small businesses make the right choices, we ask you to cast your votes for the best products of 2007. Based on your nominations and input from the editors of SmallBusinessComputing.com, ECommerce-Guide.com and Webopedia.com — as well as from several of our colleagues at other Jupitermedia sites — we have a total of 101 products spanning four categories and 24 subcategories in the 2007 Excellence in Technology Awards.

While many of the categories will look familiar, we have made some changes to reflect the times. For example, we expanded our Security category to include four subcategories: PC Security, Network Security, PC Data Backup and Recovery, and Network Data Backup and Recovery. Also, this year marks the first time we've included a category for Voice over IP.

Now comes the most important part. We need your vote. Please take a few minutes and cast your ballots for the best of the best. In the interest of fairness, we ask you to vote only in categories with which you are familiar. Voting will be open until midnight (EST) on Jan. 10, 2007, and winners will be announced on Jan. 24, 2007.

Do you have a comment or question about this article or other small business topics in general? Speak out in the SmallBusinessComputing.com Forums. Join the discussion today!