Symantec Honors 'Specializing' Partners

Symantec executives honored solution providers who went above and beyond to drive sales and invest in specializations with its 2010 North American Partner Awards, presented to Americas partners Wednesday.

The partners were recognized in front of hundreds of their peers attending the 2010 Symantec PartnerEngage partner conference at the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas. The awards highlight outstanding performance and investment in Symantec, as well as demonstrated expertise in solution areas that set the bar for other partners.

Symantec handed out its U.S. Partner of the Year award to ITS Partners, a Grand Rapids, Mich. professional services VAR, for its strong public sector presence and ability to drive a strong combination of professional services and technical support services around DLP and endpoint management, among other things.

Randy Cochran, Symantec vice president of Americas channel sales said that ITS Partners had 21 new deals in public sector alone.

"You name it, they've done it," he said. "Without you guys, we can't be successful."

Next: Symantec Honors Canada, Latin America VARs

Meanwhile, Highvail Systems, a Toronto, Ont., Canada-based solution provider, received Canadian Partner of the Year, for its ability to drive some of the largest Symantec deals in Canada.

"This partner has been very deeply enabled for years. It has been a very important asset to us in one of our largest banks in Canada, and a driving force behind getting one of the largest deals in Canada last year," said Fred Patterson, Canada director of channel sales, who presented the award. "They really led the way when it came to driving new licensing opportunities."

Brazil-based EZ Security received the Latin American Partner of the Year award as the highest revenue generator in the country and its strong investment in the DLP space.

Altogether, EZ security generated $4.7 million in Symantec deals, while being the first solution provider to specialize in DLP. That specialization led to the largest DLP project sold in Brazil, Symantec executives said.

Douglas Wallace, director of channel sales for Latin America and the Caribbean, said that EZ Security was representative of how investment in a specialization could ultimately drive more business and higher-end deals that lead to greater profitability. "It's about commitment to specializations and an example of those these specializations give you a return on investment," he said.