ARC 2011: Top 10 Vendors For Partner Support

Best Vendors At Supporting The IT Channel

When solution providers ask, "Who you gonna count on?" the following 10 vendor partners answer the call. Solution providers surveyed in CRN's 2011 Annual Report Card (ARC) considered five criteria when considering Vendor Support: Pre-Sales, Post-Sales, Quality of Field Management, Marketing Support and Training. Following are the 10 vendors with the best overall Support scores, according to solution providers.

No. 10: Fortinet - Network Security Appliances

Solution providers gave Fortinet a 77.9 in Overall Support. Despite its top-10 placement, Fortinet did not win this subcategory in this product category. The vendor's score dipped slightly from last year, when it earned an 80.0.

No. 9: Intel - Processors

In addition to placing first in the Product Quality and Reliability criterion among all vendors in the entire ARC, Intel placed in the top 10 in Overall Support subcategory, earning a 78.0. It was an improvement from 2010, when the vendor scored a 73.4. Intel swept the Processor category, winning all 18 criteria.

No. 8: Ruckus Wireless - SMB Networking Hardware

With a score of 79.1, Ruckus came in eighth for Overall Support. The vendor did not win the subcategory within the SMB Networking Hardware category, however. Ruckus' score was a 12.9-point improvement from 2010.

No. 7: SonicWall - Network Security Appliances

SonicWall received an 80.7 in Overall Support from solution providers surveyed for the ARC. Within the product category, the vendor beat its four competitors for the win. Although a solid score for the company, it was slightly lower than last year's.

No. 6: Adtran - SMB Networking Hardware

Solution providers gave Adtran an 81.4 in Support. The vendor took the subcategory from overall category winner Ruckus. Last year, the vendor also won the Support subcategory, but with a much lower score of 74.3.

No. 5: EMC - SMB Network Storage

Solution providers gave EMC an 82.8 in the Support subcategory. EMC swept the entire SMB Network Storage category criteria; its Support score was roughly 19 points higher than last-place Dell.

No. 4: EMC - Backup & Recovery Software

With a score of 83.0, EMC came in fourth for Overall Support. EMC swept the category criteria; its Support score was 15 points higher than last-place IBM. EMCs' score was a slight notch above last year's performance.

No. 3: Kaspersky Lab - Client Security Software

Coming in third, Kaspersky's 84.8 was up considerably from 2010, when it earned a score of 77.5. Although it came in second overall in Client Security Software to Sophos, it did place first in the Partnership subcategory.

No. 2: Sophos - Client Security Software

Sophos' 85.5 earned it second place in study for the Support subcategory. That score was an improvement from last year's 77.1. This year, Sophos moved to first place from second in the Client Security Software category overall and was the Support subcategory winner for the category.

No. 1: Kaspersky Lab - Network Security Software

A rising star in this security landscape, Kaspersky earned praise from its channel partners, resulting in an 88.0 in the Support subcategory. It packed a one-two punch in the Network Security Software product category overall, winning every one of the 18 criteria and knocking out its sole competitor, Trend Micro. Kaspersky was not included in the 2010 ARC for Network Security Software.