Each year, we bring you the details on hundreds of vendor partner programs in our Partner Programs Guide (coming March 29). Of those, a few get our five-star award, based on their commitment to the channel, breadth of program offerings and services offered to their partners. What follows are the first of our five-star partner program winners for 2010. You'll find information about each program, their goals for recruiting solution providers in 2010, and the technology markets they serve.

Name of channel program: 2X Partner Program

Name of channel program manager: Scott Sims

Year this program was established: 2005

Market Segments Served:

Networking

Software Infrastructure

Cloud Computing

Number of partners, North America: 523

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 60%

Name of channel program: A10 Partners Program

Name of channel program manager: Jim Lima

Year this program was established: 2005

Market Segments Served: Networking

Number of partners, North America: 83

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 25%

Name of channel program: ADTRAN ADvantage Partner Program

Name of channel program manager: Andrea Thomas

Year this program was established: 2006

Market Segments Served: Networking

Number of partners, North America: 2606

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 16%

Name of channel program: Agility Recovery Solutions Partner Alliance

Name of channel program manager: Chris Collins

Year this program was established: 2009

Market Segments Served:

Number of partners, North America: 4

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 30%

Name of channel program: Partner Point

Name of channel program manager: Stacy Desrosiers

Year this program was established: 2009

Market Segments Served: Servers

Storage

Number of partners, North America: 112

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 100%

Name of channel program: Fusion Partner Program

Name of channel program manager: Gary Bixler

Year this program was established: 2009

Market Segments Served: Components

Servers

Cloud Computing

Number of partners, North America: 10000

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 25%

Name of channel program: APC Channel Partner Program

Name of channel program manager: Gordon Lord

Year this program was established: 1991

Market Segments Served: Business Productivity Software

Peripherals

Security

Software Infrastructure

Number of partners, North America: 25000

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 5%

Name of channel program: AppRiver Partner Program

Name of channel program manager: Brian Haynes

Year this program was established: 2004

Market Segments Served: Business Productivity Software
Security

Services

Cloud Computing

Number of partners, North America: 900

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 10%

Name of channel program: ChannelSense

Name of channel program manager: Michelle Craven

Year this program was established: 2009

Market Segments Served: Business Productivity Software

Number of partners, North America: 50

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 25%

Name of channel program: ArcSight Connections Channel Program

Name of channel program manager: Al Honorio

Year this program was established: 2006

Market Segments Served: Networking
Security

Services

Number of partners, North America: 89

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 20%

Name of channel program: Avaya Connect

Name of channel program manager: Jeremy Butt

Year this program was established: 2009

Market Segments Served: Business Productivity Software

Components

Networking

Peripherals

Servers

Services

Software Infrastructure

Number of partners, North America: 1

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 5%

Name of channel program: Reseller Merit Program

Name of channel program manager: Caitlin Buxton

Year this program was established: 1991

Market Segments Served: Personal Computing

Security

Number of partners, North America: 12000

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 50%

Name of channel program: Take Command

Name of channel program manager: Tracy Collins

Year this program was established: 1999

Market Segments Served: Networking

Peripherals

Servers

Software Infrastructure

Number of partners, North America: 290

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 40%

Name of channel program: Channel Advantage Program

Name of channel program manager: Michele Hayes

Year this program was established: 2008

Market Segments Served: Networking

Security

Number of partners, North America: 929

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 15%

Name of channel program: Alliance Partner Network Program

Name of channel program manager: Tanja Froehlingsdorf

Year this program was established: 2009

Market Segments Served: Networking

Number of partners, North America: 72

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 25%

Name of channel program: CA Internet Security Business Unit

Name of channel program manager: Lawrence Guerin

Year this program was established: 2008

Market Segments Served: Security

Number of partners, North America: 10123

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 5%

Name of channel program: CA Recovery Management Partner Program

Name of channel program manager: Chris Burns

Year this program was established: 2006

Market Segments Served: Storage

Number of partners, North America: 4000

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: N/A

Name of channel program: Cisco Channel Partner Program

Name of channel program manager: Surinder Brar

Year this program was established: 1996

Market Segments Served: Networking

Peripherals

Security

Servers

Services

Storage

Cloud Computing

Number of partners, North America: N/A

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: N/A

Name of channel program: Citrix Partner Network

Name of channel program manager: Meika Darville

Year this program was established: 1989

Market Segments Served: Business Productivity Software

Networking

Security

Services

Software Infrastructure

Cloud Computing

Number of partners, North America: 2950

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 10%

Name of channel program: Partner Secure

Name of channel program manager: Courtney Hanley

Year this program was established: 2009

Market Segments Served: Security

Services

Storage

Cloud Computing

Number of partners, North America: 250

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 25%

Name of channel program: Compellent Channel Program

Name of channel program manager: Michael Beach

Year this program was established: 2002

Market Segments Served: Networking

Services

Storage

Cloud Computing

Number of partners, North America: 268

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 20%

Name of channel program: Compuware Partner Network

Name of channel program manager: Kimberly King, VP of Channels and Alliances

Year this program was established: 2009

Market Segments Served: Software Infrastructure

Number of partners, North America: 89

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 20%

Name of channel program: Cyberoam Partner Program

Name of channel program manager: Alex Quinonez

Year this program was established: 2007

Market Segments Served: Security

Number of partners, North America: 300

Percentage increase in partner base planned for 2010: 90%