I don't understand all these comments about price. Are you people unable to do simple subtraction? Prices are simple: you don't need Network World to say that $78 is more than $45. What Network World does is go beneath the covers to the stuff you can NOT find out by reading the CDW web pages where every product is above average. Are the guys complaining about pricing assuming that everyone simply buys whatever Network World gives the highest score to? If so, your IT departments are screwed up beyond hope and you need some serious reality adjustment.
Here's the deal, folks: you take the Network World data. Then, you add in all the factors that are blindingly obvious (like price) and the factors that are specific to you (like you only buy what Cisco/HP/Extreme/whomever sells) to make your final decision.
Let's not waste space in the magazine talking about what's obvious, but let's get some good data out about what's NOT obvious.
This is like complaining about how hard it is to install a product: you install it once, but use it for 3 to 10 years. What's more important?
Sure, if Network World were testing small shiny consumer gadgets, there'd be a whole different set of criteria. But this is enterprise-class stuff, and I've got to assume that someone buying 10Gb switches can figure out pricing on their own without Network World's help.