2013 Best Companies: Who Fell Off And Who Emerged

You're On/Off The List!

For the third year in a row, CRN surveyed VARs to learn what vendors were their must-have partners. The overall results of the Best Companies To Partner With survey were based on a vendor's technology, customer demand, relevance to partners and financial criteria, such as partner profitability.

This year, three new companies joined the ranks of the Top 25 list and two vendors dropped off this list. Here's a look at who was in and who was out.

ViewSonic

CEO: James Chu


Visual technology and display system provider ViewSonic first appeared on last year's Best Companies To Partner With list (No. 25), but then failed to make this year's ranking.

ViewSonic revamped its ProAV Certified Reseller Program earlier this year to help more resellers be eligible for the program and provide partners with more generous rebates.

Intuit

CEO: Brad Smith


Intuit, the developer of consumer tax software and applications for small businesses, first appeared on the Best Companies To Partner With list last year (No. 23), but fell off this year's list.

Intuit underwent a corporate reorganization earlier this year and took steps to focus on its core businesses, including divesting its financial services business and selling the Intuit Health Group.

Seagate Technology

CEO: Stephen Luczo


Seagate (No. 22), is making a return to this year's list. The company was on the list in 2011 (No. 10), but dropped off in 2012.

Disk drive and storage solutions vendor Seagate this year launched its Seagate Kinetic Open Storage Platform, targeting cloud storage infrastructure tasks. In October, the company promoted Executive Vice President Dave Mosley to president, operations and technology, to oversee R&D and manufacturing operations.

Western Digital

CEO: Stephen Milligan


Hard drive and solid-state disk manufacturer Western Digital (No. 20), is another company that's making a return to the Best Companies To Partner With list this year. The vendor had been on the list in 2011 (also at No. 20), but dropped off in 2012.

This year, Western Digital expanded the scope of its business through a series of strategic acquisitions. Those included sTec, an early leader in the SSD market, and Arkeia Software, a developer of data protection software. The acquisitions continued in the third quarter with a deal to buy flash storage developer Virident for $685 million, giving the company a strong flash storage portfolio.

NetApp

CEO: Tom Georgens


NetApp is a newcomer to the Best Companies To Partner With list, debuting at No. 16 this year.

NetApp's channel management team has undergone some changes this year, including the appointments of Regina Kunkle as vice president of North American channel sales, and Peter Howard as vice president of global channel sales.

The company also made some key technology moves this year, including unveiling its cloud strategy focused on its Data OnTap storage operating system, and debuting a new release of Clustered Data OnTap with storage virtual machines for software-defined storage architectures. In November, the company expanded its all-flash storage lineup with new systems in its E-series line of SAN arrays.