2011 Channel Champions: Technical Satisfaction

How Satisfied Are You Technically With Your IT Vendors?

Solution providers selected CRN Channel Champions by voting for IT vendors in 26 product categories. When completing CRN's Channel Champion survey, VARs rate vendors on a number of criteria, which may vary by product category. For Technical Satisfaction, those typically include: Interoperability, Scalability, Security, Product Quality And Reliability, Price For Performance and Configurability of Customization Tools.

The following 10 vendors were rated highest in Technical Satisfaction subcategory.

10. Technical Satisfaction: Microsoft

Category: Collaboration Software
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 84.7

Among the four criteria that comprise the Technical Satisfaction subcategory, Microsoft's best score was in Product Quality And Reliability, coming in four points ahead of challenger IBM. Microsoft swept all the criteria within the Technical Satisfaction subcategory.

9. Technical Satisfaction: Eaton

Category: Power Protection & Management
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 84.8

Eaton's highest score in the Technical Satisfaction subcategory was 94.3 in the Product Quality And Reliability criterion, just behind APC's top score of 96.1.

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Monday April 25th, CRN posted the wrong score for the subcategory of Product Quality and Reliability. The correct score is 94.3.

8. Technical Satisfaction: Intel

Category: Processors
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 85.3

Intel's highest score in Technical Satisfaction was a 99.8 in the Product Quality And Reliability criterion, more than seven points higher than challenger AMD. Still, Intel did not sweep the Technical Satisfaction subcategory; AMD took the Price For Performance criterion, scoring 86.0 vs. Intel's 84.9.

7. Technical Satisfaction: Western Digital

Category: SATA Hard Drives
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 85.5

The SATA Hard Drive category was distinguished by its top-notch vendors: three out of four had Technical Satisfaction scores in the top ten. Western Digital's impressive score in this subcategory was overshadowed by the superb performances by the other competitors in the SATA Hard Drive category. WD's highest score in the subcategory, a 95.3 in Product Quality And Reliability, was actually ranked third for the criteria, falling behind the efforts of Hitachi GST (96.7) and Seagate (102.2).

6. Technical Satisfaction: ViewSonic

Category: Flat Panel Displays
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 85.9

Among the five criteria for the Technical Satisfaction subcategory, ViewSonic performed best in Price For Performance, receiving a 87.2. That wasn't enough to beat Samsung, the category champ, which earned 89.6 in Price For Performance. ViewSonic came in second out of five contenders in the Technical Satisfaction subcategory, an improvement from last year, when the vendor received fourth place in a field of seven.

5. Technical Satisfaction: Hitachi GST

Category: SATA Hard Drives
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 85.9

Hitachi GST came in second overall in Technical Satisfaction for SATA Drives, beating third-place Western Digital by less than half a point. Its highest subcategory score was in Product Quality And Reliability, in which it took backseat to Seagate.

4. Technical Satisfaction: APC

Category: Power Protection & Management
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 86.7

APC swept all the criteria in the Technical Satisfaction subcategory; its best showing was a 96.1 in Product Quality And Reliability. APC won the Technical Satisfaction subcategory -- and the entire Power Protection product category -- in 2010 as well as in 2011.

3. Technical Satisfaction: Cisco

Category: Enterprise Networking Hardware
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 89.1

Of the five criteria that make up the Technical Satisfaction subcategory, Cisco won four: Interoperability, Security, Product Quality And Reliability and Configurability of Customization Tools. It lost Price For Performance by a nose, to Juniper Networks. As in 2010, Cisco won the Technical Satisfaction subcategory, in addition to the overall product category.

2. Technical Satisfaction: Samsung

Category: Flat Panel Displays
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 89.6

Samsung beat its closest competitor in the category, ViewSonic, by nearly four points. Its highest subcategory score, in the Image Quality criterion, was a 97.5, besting runner-up ViewSonic by 5.5 points. Last year, Samsung came in second place in the Technical Satisfaction criterion, losing to Hewlett Packard; HP did not compete in the category in 2011.

1. Technical Satisfaction: Seagate Technology

Category: SATA Hard Drives
Technical Satisfaction Rating: 91.5

Seagate won the Technical Satisfaction subcategory handily, with an overall score five points higher than second-place Hitachi GST. WD's highest score of 102.2 was in Product Quality And Reliability. Last year, Seagate won the Technical Satisfaction subcategory by only 0.1 point, eking out a win over WD.