Best In Show: 2014 CRN Channel Champions Awards

Come On Down

Solution providers from across the country gathered in Los Angeles for the XChange Solution Provider 2014 event, hosted by CRN publisher The Channel Company, to celebrate 20 companies for their commitment to the channel in the 24th annual Channel Champs awards. The Channel Champs winners were based on the rankings from 6,000 solution providers, with awards going out in 31 technical categories.

It was a significant year for the awards, as it was the first Channel Champions since The Channel Company became an independent company. Take a look at the vendor partners that solution providers voted to be best-of-the-best for 2014.

VMware

Sweeping the awards for Desktop and Server Virtualization, VMware further established its place as the company to beat in data center virtualization. Over the past year, the vendor managed to hold onto the lead while also making strides in software-defined storage, mobile device management and hybrid cloud computing.

Frank Rauch, vice president of the Americas partner organization for VMware, accepted the award from The Channel Company CEO Robert Faletra and CRN Editor, News Steve Burke.

Epson

A longtime player in print, scanners and more, Epson took home a Channel Champs award for Workgroup Color Printers. The company took home the award for Financial Satisfaction for the category, an award won last year by Xerox.

Epson's Daniel Oey, group manager, commercial imaging accepted the award from The Channel Company’s Faletra and Burke.

Kaspersky Lab

One of the fastest-growing security vendors in the world, Kaspersky Lab has been strengthening its base in endpoint security solutions as well as growing its security capabilities into areas such as mobile security, virtualization security and client device management. As a testament to its strides in security, Kaspersky Lab swept this year's category for Network Security Software.
Chris Doggett, senior vice president, B2B sales for Kaspersky Lab, North America, accepted the award from The Channel Company’s Steve Burke and Executive Editor, Online Jennifer Follett.

APC

APC by Schneider Electric has capitalized on a growing demand for data center technologies, which means an increasing reliance on power management technologies, such as those provided by APC, to keep those centers and services up and running. The network-critical physical solutions company came in as this year's winner of the Channel Champs award for Technical Satisfaction in Power Protection and Management.

Accepting the award for APC was Himanshu Patel, senior strategic manager of channel marketing, from The Channel Company’s Follett and Burke.

Lenovo

It's been an exciting year for Lenovo. It finally surpassed its competitors in the PC market to take the No. 1 slot for PC sales. It also made some big moves in the acquisition space, picking up IBM's x86 server business. Lenovo swept both the PC and mobility categories this year.

Lenovo's brand ambassador, Stephen Miller, accepted the award for the company from The Channel Company’s Follett and Burke.

Trend Micro

Trend Micro took home the award for Technical Satisfaction in Client Security Software, which includes firewall, anti-spam and anti-virus solutions. Trend Micro has established itself as a leading developer of data security software, for everything from servers, endpoints, mobile devices and the cloud.

Trend Micro's senior director of strategic partners, Gina Ridgway, accepted the Channel Champs award from The Channel Company’s Follett and Burke.

Intel

After demonstrating new microprocessor technologies for hot-item wearable technology and smart devices at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Intel swept the awards category for processors at this year's Channel Champs awards.

Accepting the award for Intel was Todd Garrigues, director, North America reseller channel programs from The Channel Company’s Follett and Burke.

NEC

NEC took home two awards for Support Satisfaction for its work in both digital signage and flat-panel displays. The company develops a broad range of displays, which will become more and more important as the world becomes more visual.

NEC National Account Manager, Channel Sales Tim Aitkens accepted the two awards from The Channel Company’s Burke and Follett.

Western Digital

Western Digital is working to help its partners stay on top of big data by providing top-notch technologies. In particular, the company's disk drive and flash storage technologies took center stage as the company swept the Channel Champs awards for SATA Hard Drives.

Scott Davis, senior vice president of worldwide sales for Western Digital, accepted the award from The Channel Company’s Follett and Senior Editor Rob Wright.

Dell

Newly private Dell took home two Channel Champs awards for Financial Satisfaction success in Enterprise Network Storage and Dell SonicWall in SMB Network Storage.

Frank Vitagliano, vice president, channel sales for Dell, accepted the two awards from The Channel Company’s Follett and Wright.

Eaton

For Eaton's longtime work in uninterruptible power supply systems, the company took home Channel Champs awards in the categories of Support Satisfaction, Financial Satisfaction, and was the overall category winner for Power Protection and Management.

Brian Brickhouse, president of Eaton Power Quality, and Curtiz Gangi, director, U.S. channels, Eaton Data Center Segment Sales, accepted the award from The Channel Company’s Follett and Wright.

Symantec

Symantec's work on develop endpoint, cloud, mobile and virtual security technologies have become ever more important this year as high-profile breaches made headlines. Recognizing its work in the security space, Symantec took home Channel Champs awards in the categories of Support Satisfaction, Financial Satisfaction, Overall satisfaction for Client Security Software.

May Mitchell, vice president of North America marketing, accepted the awards for Symantec from The Channel Company’s Wright and Video Editor Meghan Ottolini.

Oracle

Oracle took home a host of awards at this year's Channel Champs, rewarding its continuing development of a comprehensive stack of software products around its database technology. For its efforts, the company was named the Technical Satisfaction, Financial Satisfaction and Overall winner in Middleware and Financial Satisfaction winner in CRM software.

Accepting the awards for Oracle was Kimberly Lasseter, the company's director of worldwide alliances and channels. She accepted the awards from The Channel Company’s Ottolini and Wright.

Xerox

Xerox has been a long-time supporter of channel partners looking to make moves into managed print services. For its efforts in the channel, Xerox won Channel Champs awards for Support Satisfaction and Financial Satisfaction as well as being the Overall winner in the Multifunction Printers category. Xerox also won Channel Champs award for Support Satisfaction and Technical Satisfaction and was the Overall category winner in Workgroup Color Printers.

Annalisa Mena, Xerox vice president of field and sales operations, and Tom Gall, Xerox’s director of channel marketing, accepted the awards from The Channel Company’s Ottolini and Wright.

EMC

With a focus on big data in recent years, EMC has expanded its industry base through everything from content management and data security to cloud computing. For that reason, EMC took home three Channel Champs awards for its continued work as an industry leader in the data storage systems business. Partners voted EMC the leader in Technical Satisfaction and Support Satisfaction and Overall winner in Enterprise Network Storage as well as the winner in all categories for SMB Network Storage and Backup and Recovery/Data Protection Software.

Jim Quercetti, director of channel sales strategy; Kristine Cornwall, senior marketing manager of the enterprise and midrange storage division; and Joe Barnes, regional partner manager of the West mid-market accepted the award from The Channel Company’s Ottolini and Wright.

IBM

Winning more awards than she could carry, IBM Vice President, Global Business Partners, North America Tami Duncan accepted awards for Support Satisfaction and Financial Satisfaction in Cloud Office Productivity, Technical Satisfaction and tying for Support Satisfaction in Cloud Security Providers, and Support Satisfaction in Middleware. IBM also won Channel Champs awards for Technical Satisfaction and Support Satisfaction and was Overall winner in Midrange Services and Systems Management/Network Management, as well as sweeping the Data and Information Management Category.

Duncan accepted the awards from The Channel Company’s Ottolini and Wright.

Samsung

After expanding beyond computer monitors into a major player in IT products and devices across the board, Samsung was awarded Channel Champs awards in multiple hardware categories. Samsung took home awards for Technical Satisfaction and Financial Satisfaction and Overall winner in Digital Signage, Flat-Panel Displays and Tablet Computers.

Todd Bouman, vice president, marketing for Samsung, accepted the awards from The Channel Company’s Faletra and Burke.

Hewlett-Packard

Juggling an armful of awards, HP was recognized for its role as a major force in the channel across many different categories. The company took home Channel Champs awards for Financial Satisfaction in Midrange Servers; Technical Satisfaction for Multifunction Printers; Support Satisfaction for Tablet Computers; and Support Satisfaction and Financial Satisfaction and Overall winner for Network Security Appliances. HP also swept the categories for Volume Servers and Cloud Backup and Recovery.

Jesse Chavez, worldwide channel Sales and alliances for HP's Enterprise Group, and Matt Smith, Americas partner development for Printing and Personal Systems, accepted the awards from The Channel Company’s Faletra and Burke.

Microsoft

After an exciting year for the world's largest software company, Microsoft came home a winner in the categories of Financial Satisfaction for System Management/Network Management; Technical Satisfaction and Overall winner for Cloud Office Productivity; Financial Satisfaction and tying for Support Satisfaction as well as Overall winner for Cloud Security Providers. On top of that, the software vendor also won Technical Satisfaction and Support Satisfaction as well as Overall winner in CRM Software and sweeping the category for Business Analytics.

Microsoft's Cindy Bates, vice president of U.S. small and midsize business and distribution, accepted the awards from The Channel Company’s Faletra and Burke.

Cisco

Cisco closed out the night with the most Channel Champs awards of all. Over the past year, Cisco stayed on top of its game by making significant strides into SDN, converged infrastructure and the Internet of Everything.

Cisco took home Channel Champs awards for Technical Satisfaction in Network Security Appliances and Technical Satisfaction and Support Satisfaction as well as Overall winner in SMB Networking Hardware. The company also swept multiple categories, including Converged Infrastructure, Enterprise Networking Infrastructure, Unified Communications and Videoconferencing.

Edison Peres, senior vice president of worldwide channels for Cisco, and his team accepted the awards from The Channel Company’s Faletra and Burke.