Top Honors: Meet The 2010 ARC Award Winners

The Channel Glitterati

One of the most hotly anticipated channel events of the year, the final night of XChange Americas brought the Annual Report Card (ARC) awards, in which channel vendors are evaluated for product innovation, support and partnership, based on the feedback of more than 3,700 solution providers. In all, twenty vendors were honored at this year's gala awards ceremony at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Dallas. Here's a look at the big winners.

From The Top

Everything Channel CEO Robert Faletra kicked off the awards show with a tribute to the participants and sponsors of the Channel@Work program, which had taken place a day before before XChange officially kicked off. This year's program, underwritten by Microsoft, was dedicated to Supporting Our Troops, and found Channel@Work partnering with the 301st Fighter Wing, a local airforce reserve unit, and the Wounded Warrior Regiment, providing non-medical care to wounded marines.

Quarter Century of ARC

Tuesday's award presentation marked the 25th anniversary of CRN's Annual Report Card -- the longest standing research study of its kind, noted Dan Dignam, Everything Channel executive vice president.

"To rise to the top of the ARC you must post extraordinary results and have strong relationships with your partners," Dignam explained.

Dignam also thanked the evening's sponsors: Cisco, EMC, IBM, Intel, Kaspersky Lab, Microsoft, Samsung and Zenith Infotech.

On With The Show

"We've done a little reminiscing this afternoon with Mark Cuban," said Kelley Damore, Everything Channel vice president and editorial director, reflecting on the Cuban session from earlier in the day. "This is a man who has grown beyond his roots as a VAR to become a household name. My dad doesn't know what the channel is. But he knows Mark Cuban."

Sophos

Kicking off the awards presentation, Everything Channel Vice President and Editorial Director Kelley Damore presented the product innovation category winner for client security software to Sophos Director of Channel Sales Matt Fogelgren.

Kaspersky Lab

Merely 13-years-old but with, as Everything Channel/CRN Vice President and Editorial Director Kelley Damore pointed out, "big ambitions," Kaspersky Lab took wins in support and partnership as well as the overall win in the category of client security software. Joining Damore (Center) to accept was Nancy Reynolds, Kaspersky senior vice president, corporate sales, Americas (left) and Kristen Capone (right), Kaspersky vice president, North American Channel Sales.

Microsoft

Microsoft nabbed six ARC awards, sweeping the middleware category and also grabbing honors in the partnership categories of data and information management and VoIP/unified communications. Joining CRN News Editor Steve Burke was Eric Martorano, director, U.S. channel strategy, marketing and online services for Microsoft.

Oracle

The data and information management category was hard fought, noted CRN Executive Editor, Online, Jennifer Follett. Product innovation category honors went to Oracle, whose Ted Bereswill, senior vice president, North American Alliances & Channels, joined Follett to accept.

IBM

Taking the support subcategory and the overall honors in the data and information category was IBM, whose Rich Hume (right), general manager, global business partners and Shaun Jones (left), vice president, worldwide partner marketing joined CRN News Editor Steve Burke (center) onstage.

Dell

Rounding out the server categories, Dell took top honors in the partnership and support subcategory and the overall category of midrange servers. Joining CRN Executive Editor, Online, Jennifer Follett from Dell was Greg Davis, vice president and general manager, global commercial channels.

ViewSonic

It's gotta be those cute little finches! ViewSonic swept the category of display technologies, with CRN News Editor Steve Burke presenting the honors to Jeff Volpe, president, ViewSonic Americas.

VMware

Virtualization remains a huge opportunity for VARs, and VMware remains among the elite virtualization vendors -- the company swept the virtualization category. Joining CRN Executive Editor, Online, Jennifer Follett to accept the award was Doug Smith, VMware senior director, global partner strategy and operations.

Trend Micro

At the forefront of security Intelligence and threat management, Trend Micro swept the category of network security software. Joining CRN West Coast Bureau Chief Kevin McLaughlin (right) was Steve Mungall, Trend Micro vice president, US channel sales.

Panasonic

Can't beat a Toughbook. That's why Panasonic took overall winners -- and nods for all three subcategories -- in the category of notebook computers. Vice President, Channel Sales Sheila O'Neil accepted the award from CRN Networking Editor Chad Berndtson

Intel

As McLaughlin pointed out about Intel: "Moore was right and the naysayers were wrong. More than 40 years later, the $35 billion company continues to push innovation."

Intel nabbed the overall win as well as subcategory wins in the processors and platforms category. Eric Thompson, Intel North America Channel Sales and Marketing Director, joined CRN West Coast Bureau Chief Kevin McLaughlin onstage.

Hewlett-Packard

No stranger to the ARC winners' circle, Hewlett-Packard took product innovation honors in a number of categories, including SMB network storage, volume mainstream business servers and workgroup color printers, as well as an overall win for SMB storage. Team HP took the stage en masse to accept their awards from CRN Networking Editor Chad Berndtson. From left to right: Mike Humke, vice president, public sector for HP's solution partners organization; Suzie Kaczenski, channel marketing programs manager; Connie Lipsey, marketing manager, and Matt Smith.

D-Link

Snagging the support and partnership honors in the SMB network storage category was D-Link, which grew 20 percent during the recession and has outpaced its competitors with double-digit growth over the past two decades. Accepting for D-Link was Nick Tidd, president, D-Link North America, who joined CRN West Coast Bureau Chief Kevin McLaughlin onstage.

Xerox

A $22 billion-industry leader, Xerox is also no stranger to the ARC awards stage. The company took honors in the support, partnership and overall categories for color workgroup printers. Accepting from Xerox was Gary Gillam, vice president, channel operations, North America resellers, who joined CRN Test Center Managing Editor Ed Moltzen.

SonicWall

The support subcategory for network security appliances went to SonicWall, whose VARs came out in favor of how well the vendor handles its channel relationships. Accepting from SonicWall was George Hlebak, vice president, western U.S. and Canada sales, who took the stage with CRN Test Center Technical Editor Eddie Correia.

Fortinet

Founded a decade ago, Fortinet has shipped more than 500,000 appliances to more than 75,000 customers worldwide, and in this year's ARC took top honors for partnership, support and overall in network security appliances. Joining CRN Test Center Managing Editor Ed Moltzen to accept for Fortinet was Kendra Krause, vice president, channel sales.

Cisco

Networking heavyweight Cisco picked up product innovation honors for the hotly contested category of enterprise networking infrastructure, as well as top honors in unified communication/VoIP product innovation, support and overall. It also nabbed product innovation honors for SMB networking hardware, and the overall win in the category.

Joining CRN Test Center Technical Editor Eddie Correia on stage from Cisco were Raja Sundaram, senior director, worldwide services partner organzation; Jim Sherriff, senior vice president, U.S. and Canada partner organization; Luanne Tierney, vice president, worldwide partner marketing; Edison Peres, senior vice president, worldwide channels; and Richard McLeod, senior director, worldwide partner organization.

Adtran

Partnership and support honors for SMB networking hardware went to Adtran, which made its bones in the telecommunications arena but became a force in local area networks (LAN) and end user networking needs for companies of all sizes. Joining CRN Test Center Managing Editor Ed Moltzen onstage from Adtran was Ted Cole, Adtran vice president, channel sales.

Juniper

It was a major win for maverick Juniper Networks, which grabbed partnership, support and overall honors in the enterprise networking infrastructure. Longtime channel executive and Juniper Senior Vice President, Americas Partners Frank Vitagliano accepted the award from Everything Channel Vice President and Editorial Director Kelley Damore.

EMC

Grabbing the final awards for the evening was EMC, which swept the data protection software category by winning partnership, innovation and support, plus overall, honors, and also swept the enterprise network storage category, taking the overall win and all the subcategories. EMC was the evening's biggest winner -- a total of 6 awards and the only ARC vendor to sweep two categories. Joining CRN News Editor Steve Burke onstage were Gregg Ambulos (left), EMC vice president, channel sales and George Hope (right), vice president, American channel sales.

The Greatest

Capping off the night was a presentation from Don Yaeger, one of the country's top sports and investigative journalists, a former associate editor for Sports Illustrated and author of 17 books. Yaeger spends much of his time on the road these days discussing his experiences with the world's greatest athletes and sports figures, and what he's learned about what puts those figures in an elite class of greatness. One trait shared among NBA legend Michael Jordan and NFL running back great Warrick Dunn, among other figures he's met with? They hate to lose more than they like to win, Yaeger said, and they never excuse themselves for second place -- in anything.

Valued Association

Discussing "The 16 Characteristics of Greatness," Yaeger reminded attendees that the great ones value association, Yaeger said: who's in their inner circle, and what those people can do to make them even greater. It was a key lesson he heard from legendary UCLA men's basketball coach John Wooden, Yaeger said, who urged Yaeger to move "association' much further up the list of important greatness characteristics.