The IT industry is undergoing some major shifts. And as trends like "big data" and "bring your own device" are transforming the IT industry, the door is open for innovative vendors in the peripherals space to capitalize on these shifts. So what has your IT vendor done for you lately?

The 2013 Partner Program Guide offers solution providers the information they need to evaluate IT vendors they already work with or are considering working with. The guide is based on detailed applications vendors submitted outlining all aspects of their partner programs. As part of the Partner Program Guide, UBM Tech Channel Research designates some programs as 5-Star Partner Programs.

Here we present the 5-Star designees in the peripherals space.

Program Name: APC Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 1991

Number of North American Partners: 25,000

North American Channel Chief: Shannon Sbar - Vice President of Channels

URL: www.apc.com

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Program Name: Avaya Connect

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 2,372

North American Channel Chief: Karl Soderlund - Vice President, Americas Channel Sales

URL: www.avaya.com

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Program Name: Axis Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: 16,724

North American Channel Chief: Larry Newman - Director of Sales, North America

URL: www.axis.com

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Program Name: Cisco Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 1996

Number of North American Partners: 2,951

North American Channel Chief: Wendy Bahr - Senior Vice President, Americas Partner Organization

URL: www.cisco.com

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Program Name: Cisco Partner Led Program

Year Program Established: 2011

Number of North American Partners: 3,000

North American Channel Chief: Wendy Bahr - Senior Vice President, Americas Partner Organization

URL: www.cisco.com

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Program Name: Dell PartnerDirect

Year Program Established: 2007

Number of North American Partners: 50,652

North American Channel Chief: Jim DeFoe - Vice President North America Global Commercial Channel Sales

URL: www.dell.com

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Program Name: Digium Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2007

Number of North American Partners: 1,424

North American Channel Chief: Steve Harvey - Vice President, Global Sales

URL: www.digium.com

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Program Name: Dot Hill Connections Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 200

North American Channel Chief: Brad Painter - Vice President of Channel Sales

URL: www.dothill.com

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Program Name: Innovation Partnership Program

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: 1,374

North American Channel Chief: Tracy Collins - Director, Global Channel Sales and Marketing, Avocent and Liebert Products, North America

URL: www.emersonnetworkpower.com

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Program Name: PowerAdvantage Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 2,641

North American Channel Chief: Ramesh Menon - Director of Global Channel Marketing, Distributed Power Quality

URL: www.powerquality.eaton.com

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Program Name: HP PartnerOne

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: N/A

North American Channel Chief: Scott Dunsire - Vice President & General Manager, U.S. Channel Sales, Hewlett-Packard Printing and Personal Systems

URL: www.hp.com

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Program Name: Hitachi TrueNorth Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2003

Number of North American Partners: 491

North American Channel Chief: Michael Rouser - Vice President, Americas Channel Sales

URL: www.hds.com

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Program Name: IBM PartnerWorld

Year Program Established: 1999

Number of North American Partners: 33,090

North American Channel Chief: Wilfredo Sotolongo - Vice President NA Business Partners and Midmarket

URL: www.ibm.com

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Program Name: Intel Technology Provider Program

Year Program Established: 1980

Number of North American Partners: 50,000

North American Channel Chief: Sharon Alt - Director Distribution Sales and Channel Marketing

URL: www.intel.com

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Program Name: NA Lenovo Partner Network Program

Year Program Established: 2000

Number of North American Partners: 24,000

North American Channel Chief: Chris Frey - NA Commercial Channel Chief

URL: www.lenovo.com

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Program Name: Microsoft Partner Network

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: 127,000

North American Channel Chief: Jenni Flinders - Vice President, U.S. Partner Business Development & Sales, Microsoft Corp

URL: www.microsoft.com

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Program Name: Motorola Solutions PartnerEmpower Program

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: 3,553

North American Channel Chief: Mark Kroh - Vice President, North American Channels

URL: www.motorolasolutions.com

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Program Name: NEC Partner Net

Year Program Established: 2007

Number of North American Partners: 4,125

North American Channel Chief: Ashley Flaska - Vice President of Marketing

URL: www.necdisplay.com

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Program Name: Oracle PartnerNetwork Specialized

Year Program Established: 1991

Number of North American Partners: 5,171

North American Channel Chief: Judson Althoff - Senior Vice President, Worldwide Alliances & Channels and Embedded Sales

URL: www.oracle.com

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Program Name: Choice Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 4,800

North American Channel Chief: Mike Conlon - Vice President, North America Channel Sales

URL: www.polycom.com

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Program Name: Signature Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2000

Number of North American Partners: 2,282

North American Channel Chief: Pohan Chiang - Vice President, Americas Sales

URL: www.qlogic.com

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Program Name: Partner Advantage Program

Year Program Established: 2004

Number of North American Partners: 265

North American Channel Chief: Gary Marks - Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing

URL: www.raritan.com

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Program Name: Independent Service & Maintenance Organization (ISMO Program)

Year Program Established: 2004

Number of North American Partners: 200

North American Channel Chief: Danielle Camp - Director of Strategic Relations

URL: www.servicekeytss.com

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Program Name: FinchClub

Year Program Established: 1987

Number of North American Partners: 8,500

North American Channel Chief: Jeff Volpe - President

URL: www.viewsonic.com

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Program Name: Xerox Peak Partner Programs

Year Program Established: 2000

Number of North American Partners: 3,400

North American Channel Chief: Tom Gall - Director of Channel Marketing for North American Reseller Sales

URL: www.xerox.com

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