The awards which honoured the Middle East’s channel architects are a barometer for measuring which vendors, distributors, SIs, resellers and retailers are providing exceptional service, value-added services, solid channel commitment and go that extra mile to assist channel partners and end-users in the region.
The 23 awards handed out to the deserving winners were divided into five categories: vendor awards, for channel and product offerings; distributor awards, for value-added services, market development and support; reseller awards, for technology and business innovation, and pre- and post-sales support; partner programmes awards, for developing meaningful training and certification programmes and personality awards, which recognised outstanding contributions from individuals who go that extra mile to contribute to the growth, wellbeing and maturity of the Middle East IT channel.
Over 150 nominations were received across the five categories and a panel of judges comprising Guy Whitcroft, Principal Consultant, CapitalSteps and Vasudevan K., MD, SATVIK Inc worked tirelessly to cast their eye over every nomination in the run up to these awards. The judges kept to a very strict set of criteria and used their channel expertise to pass judgment over some very closely contested categories.
The judging panel with the help of the CPI editors have brought their considerable channel expertise and regional knowledge of the IT channel market to the awards.
Delivering a welcome note at the glittering gala dinner, Dominic De Sousa, CEO and publisher of CPI Group, outlined that the first annual Reseller Middle East Awards celebrate best practice and service excellence by vendors, distributors, system integrators, retailers and resellers across the region.
De Sousa said to have emerged from last year’s global economic crisis was admirable. He added that to have done so with new leadership initiatives, business and market development plans, channel development programmes, wide ranges of products and solutions, technology and business innovation, value-added services, training and certification programmes – and more – is a real tribute both to the professionalism of the Middle East market and the developing collaboration between different players in the value chain.
“One thing hasn’t changed, however: the IT channel’s dedication in supporting the market and delivering value,” De Sousa said. “The names of the players may change, technologies may evolve but the strength of this market as a great trading hub remains as strong today as ever.”
The winners at the inaugural awards are:
Vendor Awards
Networking Vendor of the Year – Blue Coat Systems
Software Vendor of the Year – Microsoft Gulf
Printing Vendor of the Year – Hewlett Packard
Security Vendor of the Year category – Kaspersky Middle East
Components Vendor of the Year – Western Digital
Storage Vendor of the Year – EMC
Specialist Vendor of the Year – Genius
Partner Programme Awards
Best Partner Excellence Programme of the Year (Vendor) – Cisco
Readers’ Choice Vendor of the Year – Dell
Best Partner Excellence Programme of the Year (Distributor) – DESPEC MERA
Readers’ Choice Distributor of the Year – BDL Group
Distributor Awards
Broadline Distributor of the Year – Redington Gulf
Components Distributor of the Year – Asbis Middle East
Storage Distributor of the Year – FDC International
Security Distributor of the Year – Computerlinks
Software Distributor of the Year – Aptec Holdings
Specialist Distributor of the Year – FVC
Networking Distributor of the Year – Westcon ME Group
Reseller Awards
Reseller of the Year – Al Moammar Information Systems
Retailer of the Year – Jacky’s Electronics
SI of the Year – Alpha Data
Personality Awards
Outstanding Executive of the Year – Dr Ali Baghadi, CEO of Aptec Holdings
Taj El Khayat, Regional Director, Juniper Networks Middle East
A special thank you goes out to the sponsors who have contributed so much to the first Reseller Middle East Partner Excellence Awards. These are:
Platinum Sponsor – Octagon
Gold Sponsors – HP, SonicWALL, AlMasa, Dell, Emitac and Aptec, and
Silver Sponsors – Despec, Golden Systems, ASBIS, Intuit, iMega, Micro Automation, Brocade and DCG.
The inaugural Reseller Middle East (RME) Partner Excellence Awards held at the Madinat Jumeirah hotel on 30th May 2010 in Dubai honoured high achieving vendors, distributors, retailers, resellers and individuals in the channel that have contributed to the growth and development of the Middle East channel.
