The fourth annual Network Computing Awards held their awards ceremony last night at a black tie event under the shadow of London's famous Tower Bridge. WhatsUp Gold was nominated in four categories so naturally we were all anxiously waiting for news of any results!

We were thrilled to find out that WhatsUp Gold had won the Network Management Product of the Year award. We received the news right away, thanks to our representitive who attended the ceremony in our honor. Here's a quick recap of the night:

With high hopes of taking home some hardware, we sent Martin Brindley, our account rep at DMG Europe, to represent the Ipswitch Network Management Division. Armed with his smartphone in hand, Martin set out to keep us updated in real-time by tweeting throughout the night. Early on we knew he was the right person to represent us at the ceremony as we noticed his first tweet of the night:

@martinbrindley: On my way to network computing awards, if you fancy meeting up I'll be the one in the dinner jacket and black tie

Dressed to impress and representing WUG to the best of his ability, Martin settled in at his table as they began announcing winners and handing out awards.

@martinbrindley: Congrats to extreme networks for wireless product of the year
@martinbrindley: Congrats to netscout for data centre product of year

Some anxious moments followed as Martin watched some of the awards that WUG was in the running for go to our competitors. Things were starting to look grim for WhatsUp Gold and it seemed we might be shut out at the Network Computing Awards for the third straight year.

But just as Martin started to worry that the acceptance speach he prepared might go to waste, WUG's big moment came as they announced the big award.

@martinbrindley: Congrats to ipswitch for network management product of the year!

His tweet was simple and understated, yet the message was clear. This was a very big moment for the entire Ipswitch Network Management division as everyone's hard work from the past year had been validated and paid off with this great award.

We will enjoy the sweet taste of victory for a bit, but won't let it go to our heads as we get right back to work in what will be a busy but very exciting 2010 for Ipswitch Network Management!