Remarkable Arrivals

When it came to scoring a win in their first ARC appearance, Ricoh executives pointed to their scores across the Network Color Printers category, saying the win was a result of broad channel initiatives, as well as an effort to target resellers seeking complete solution sets.

"Ricoh's products and solution offerings help our partners generate new opportunities and help businesses work more effectively and productively," says Ann Moser, senior vice president of the Printing Solutions Division at Ricoh. "This award is a testament to Ricoh's ability to provide product innovation, strong partner relationships, outstanding support and dedicated loyalty to our strategic partners.

"This is the first year that Ricoh has competed," Moser adds. "To be selected as a winner by our solution-provider partners provides us with a great sense of accomplishment."

As for Western Digital, which had competed in the past--but in the since-discontinued Entry-Level Hard Drives category--execs say the vendor's victory in Enterprise Disk Drives is an endorsement of its efforts to focus on the channel with a number of new partner-facing initiatives.

"Detailed feedback from our integration and reseller partners, such as what we've heard through the ARC award program, is the core of our SelectWD program: listening to customers," says Stacy Hand, senior director of worldwide channels at Western Digital.

"Everything we do to serve our partners is designed to make it easy for them to do business with Western Digital," Hand says. "From our Advanced RMA service, which speeds service to their customers, to our SelectWD Web portal, which streamlines access to product and service literature as well as the process for selecting the right Western Digital product for their applications. Our goal is to make it easy for integration and reseller partners to deliver Western Digital's quality and reliability to their customers."