Meet the Jewels In The VARBusiness 500 Crown

Fighting back from years of consolidation and tethered ambition, a top flight of solution providers were celebrated for their ingenuity and success at the 2004 VARBusiness 500 Awards at Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room in New York last month.

The annual event, now in its fourth year, prized the best and brightest companies in the channel, such as BearingPoint, Keane and Mainline Information Systems, as well as rising stars like Helio Solutions, Sequel Data Systems and Siwel Consulting. It was quite a welcomed change to see so many VARs putting the downturn behind them and returning to growth.

"Amazingly, the VARBusiness 500 has emerged from this period stronger, more focused and transformed--proving once again that solution providers have business models that are resilient, adaptive and innovative," said Robert C. DeMarzo, VARBusiness' editorial director, during the ceremony. "Collectively, this group generated revenue of $324 billion last year, up nearly 4 percent from the previous year."

In all, 18 awards were presented to solution providers and individuals who demonstrated memorable performances during the past year.

The 2004 VARBusiness 500 Lifetime Achievement Award went to Ed Coleman, chairman, president and CEO of CompuCom Systems (see page 28). Coleman spent more than two decades in the solution-provider business before moving over to CompuCom, where he successfully transformed the products-reseller into a services-led business. On stage, Coleman joked he was too young to receive a lifetime achievement award and took the opportunity to praise the thousands of employees and associates under his keep.

VARBusiness awarded its prestigious Executive of the Year Award to Mainline Information Systems CEO Rick Kearney (see page 30), who told fellow solution providers to choose vendor partners wisely and "stick with them through thick and thin," until they no longer deserve their trust.

On the business-metrics side of the awards, VARBusiness selected Digital River to receive the Top Profit Award. The company generated a profit of $17 million last year. For fastest revenue growth among large companies, BearingPoint took the honors. The $3 billion-plus consultant grew its top line 33 percent in 2003.

We also distributed awards for outstanding growth and performance in vertical markets. Siwel Consulting won for the financial-services market. Surebridge, which was recently acquired by Navisite, took the award in the manufacturing category with sales of $42 million last year, up a powerful 76 percent. And Innovative Systems Design took home the award for best revenue performance in the telecommunications market.

There were two Transformer of the Year Awards this year, given to companies with the savvy and intelligence to reinvent themselves to generate success. The first was awarded to Keane, which successfully balanced a U.S.-based IT consultancy with an emerging offshore business model. The second went to National Network Services. CEO Brad Hanson repurchased the network-services business unit from Encompass, which had filed for bankruptcy. He helped resurrect the company and transform it into a VARBusiness 500 company.

There were also two Editors' Choice Awards presented to organizations that took on the new--whether it was technologies, markets or business models--and ran with it. The first went to FusionStorm, which is reshaping itself with acquisitions; CEO John Varel accepted. Venture SystemSource, a go-to partner for IBM server solutions that spun off two vertical companies in the past year, got the second award, which was presented to CEO Dave Traxler.

In the Technology Innovators categories, five awards were bestowed to companies with world-class abilities to deliver innovative solutions to customers in a timely and cost-effective manner: Pacific Star Communications, with a 150 percent increase in revenue, picked up its award for Network Infrastructure. Sequel Data Systems boosted sales 125 percent and picked up the award for Storage. The Server Award winner was Sysix, which, in addition to hardware and software divisions, has its own consulting arm and a finance division. With a 117 percent revenue gain last year, GovPlace received the award for Security. And the Application Development Award was handed out to Computer Software Innovations.

In the Newcomer of the Year category, the award went to Helio Solutions, founded in 2001. The Ascension Award winner, given to the VAR that climbed the most spots on the 2004 VARBusiness 500 list, went to Future Tech Enterprises, which gained 129 spots to finish in position 355.

In addition, radio personality Laura Ingraham (below), gave a keynote address. Earlier in the day, attendees soaked up exclusive market intelligence from top channel executives, including Mike Borman, vice president and general manager of IBM Business Partners; Allyson Seelinger, vice president of global channel sales at Symantec; and Rauline Ochs, group vice president of North American channels at Oracle.

Tweet

   

More Channel Programs