Networking your way to the new awards
With less than two months to go before the Channel Awards 2005, Simon Meredith takes a closer look at the vendors that have been shortlisted to help you decide who should get your valuable vote
There are 42 companies competing for eight awards in the Vendor categories this year and the competition is bound to be strong, particularly in the key categories of Systems, Software and Networking. The first two categories were not part of the awards in 2004 so this year’s accolade is doubly significant and could be seen as more of an indicator of long-term progress than in other years.
The Networking Award has special significance this year, as for the first time it recognises that data and voice networking are now an integral part of the network-systems developer’s offering. As a result some very big-names are going head-to-head. The number of entries for this category was particularly high, so the finalists who make it onto the short list should see this as a considerable achievement.
With big names like Avaya, Cisco and 3Com on the short list, the smaller vendors who have made it might be seen as outsiders, but they feel that they have a good chance. D-Link, which won the Data Networking award last year, is certainly going
all-out to win. “I think we are in with a good chance,” said Bal Phull, marcomms manager at the firm. “We won the award last year and that has given us further motivation for this year. We have been using the award win in a lot of marketing and our campaign for this year is well under way.”
The short lists for the Systems and Software categories also include some big names – but there are companies missing that perhaps should have put in an entry. Microsoft is the most obvious exception in the software category. The company was, it seems, unable to put together an entry. You might think this could give the other contenders in a diverse field more reason for optimism, but it seems not.
“It is a daunting prospect to be measured on such a broad scale,” Al Rees, UK channel marketing manager at Computer Associates told CRN. “We have put a lot of effort into being more channel friendly, particularly in the past year. Being short-listed allows us to go back to the channel organisation and say, ‘be proud of what you have done, now let’s try even harder for next year’. Having said that, maybe no one will vote for us and we’ll be practicing our fake smiles as someone else picks up the award.”
But there are many that will want the smiles to be genuine on 24 November in Battersea and are expecting their resellers to vote for them – not least Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC), which must be one of the favourites in the Systems Vendor category. Ian Snadden, director of channel and SME sales at the company, will be urging partners to make them a winner, but only if they feel FSC deserves it.
“We want to win of course, and if we do it will be a tremendous reward for the efforts we have made and a massive inspiration to go on driving our channel programme. We will certainly be asking our partners to vote for us if they feel that we deserve to win – in the end, they have to believe that we do deserve it, hopefully they will,” he said.
Ann Keefe, sales director at Kingston Technology, which last year won the Outstanding Achievement Award and this year is up for both the Components and Specialist – Product categories. “We are competing against some strong vendors so we are in good company. There is nothing like a bit of competition to keep you on youres,” she said.
Another category that will be fiercely contested is Security Vendor of the year. The six finalists are all
well-respected and last year’s winner, Check Point, faces stiff competition. Viv Francis, EMEA channel manager at the company, said: “As we were winners last year it would be extremely traumatic not to be short-listed. Of course it will be competitive, but we all love a challenge and I’m sure it will be a ruthless but friendly competition. We can’t be complacent, but we have invested a lot in our channel partnerships and we are very excited.”
Among others, Sophos plans to make a vigorous challenge, but will stay on the right side of the law. “We decided that giving away more margin in exchange for votes might be a little too close to bribery. Instead we are relying on the support of our resellers to vote for us. We will be advertising the nominations on our web site and in our channel newsletter and our account managers will be sure to mention it.”
Jonathan Mepsted, regional director at Fortinet, is expecting a tough, but sporting, contest. “It is important that we don’t resort to slagging or baiting one another. I’m sure the other entrants are terribly nice people – despite the misplaced faith they have in their products – and we wish them the very best of luck,” he said.
There will also be hard-fought contests for the Storage and the two Specialist awards, where many companies that have not received nominations in the Channel Awards are being recognised for the first time.
Making it onto the final list for is very significant, said Chris Brassington, chief executive of Totem Communications. “To be a short-listed is a huge honour, especially against the household names in our category,” he said.
The CRN Channel Awards 2005 is the most open awards we have ever run. They are about being good in your specialist area. This year’s categories will reward the vendors operating in key areas of the market that deserve recognition.
But the race is far from over and every reader vote will count in all eight categories. You have until 28 October to register your vote. Don’t forget to vote in the most coveted vendor award – the Outstanding Achievement Award. Simply go to www.channelawards.co.uk and type in the name of the vendor you think deserves overall recognition in 2005.