CMP Channel Group's CRN Honors Leading Vendors at the 17th Annual Channel Champions Awards CeremonyStudy is Premier Resource to Evaluate Channel Vendors and ProgramsPRNewswire-FirstCall SAN DIEGO, March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at an awards ceremony during the CMP XChange Solution Provider conference, CMP Channel Group's CRN announced the 17th annual Channel Champions award winners. The CRN Channel Champions Study measures overall Solution Provider perceptions of vendor products and services. The result is a premier resource used by VARs and technology integrators throughout the industry to evaluate vendors and their programs. The CRN Channel Champions survey is the largest and broadest-based technology integrator market study in the industry. CRN received more than 100 vendor ratings for all of the categories combined. Nearly 2,000 Solution Providers responded to the survey, conducted between December 2006 and January 2007, with many respondents qualified to rate more than one vendor. They were chosen at random from CRN's subscriber list and were pre- qualified to ensure that they worked in the category, were familiar with the products, and had a significant relationship with the vendor(s) being rated. CRN specified that VARs and technology integrators rate only those vendors with whom they had either a strategic partner type of business relationship, when possible. Vendors rated in each category were chosen on the basis of market share data provided by major research firms. In the case where market share data was not available, vendors were chosen by CRN senior editorial staff recommendations. VARs and technology integrators were asked to rate the relative importance of the individual evaluation criteria. To derive the overall score for each vendor, the raw satisfaction scores were weighted according to the relative importance of the evaluation criteria. The 2007 CRN Channel Champions winners are as follows: CATEGORIES WINNER Business Software Suites Microsoft Client & Server Processors Intel Client Security Software Symantec Network Color Laser Printers HP Databases/Data Management Microsoft Commercial Desktop PCs HP E-mail/Collaboration Software Microsoft External Data Backup IBM Flat Panel Displays ViewSonic Enterprise Networking Hardware Cisco Enterprise Wireless LANs Cisco Infrastructure Integration Software Microsoft Midrange Servers HP Multifunction Printers HP Network Storage (SAN or NAS) HP Network Operating Systems Microsoft Network Security Hardware Cisco Network Security Software Symantec Notebooks HP Server-Class Disk Drives Seagate SMB/Volume Servers HP SMB Networking Hardware Cisco SMB Wireless LANs Cisco Storage Management Software Symantec Systems and Network Management Microsoft UPS Data Center Power Management APC Voice-over-IP Technology Cisco Overall Criteria Winner Cisco Overall Program and Support Winner Microsoft Overall Financial Winner Microsoft "We commend the leading vendors recognized as Channel Champions. They represent the 'best of the best' by business and technology integrators who recommend them to their customers," said Dan Dignam, Vice President and Publisher, CRN. "An essential resource for the channel for more than two decades, we continue to provide business and technology integrators with the information they need to make strategic purchasing decisions." "Each year we survey business and technology integrators to learn their satisfaction of the vendors they work closely with to deliver solutions to their customers. The champions are those vendors that set the standard for delivering strong products and solid support, and do so on a consistent basis," said Heather Clancy, Vice President/Editor, CRN. The Channel Champions awards will be published in the May 7 issue of CRN. The CRN Channel Champions awards are generously supported by platinum sponsor, Samsung and gold sponsors, ADTRAN, Oracle, Symantec, Toshiba and Websense. About CRN CRN provides solution providers and technology integrators with the crucial information and analysis they need to drive their company's sales. As an advocate for and voice of the IT channel, solution providers turn to CRN first for immediate information. With nearly 25 years of experience, CRN is the most trusted source for channel professionals. About CMP Channel Group (http://www.cmpchannelgroup.com/) CMP Channel Group is the one stop shop customers turn to in order to meet their global sales channel objectives from access to execution. Through use of its print products which include CRN and VARBusiness, their accompanying websites, the broader ChannelWeb network, the Group's XChange worldwide face- to-face conferences and the Institute for Partner Education & Development (IPED), vendors are able to accelerate sales through the channel. CMP Channel Group provides a worldwide answer to advertising, branding and marketing services, lead generation, market intelligence, branded and custom events, education of solution providers and best practices for vendors. About CMP Technology (http://www.cmp.com/) CMP Technology is a marketing-solutions company serving the technology industry. Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands, CMP has earned the confidence of more technology professionals than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Technology is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. Contact Kate Spellman CMP Channel Group kspellman@cmp.com 516.562.7383 SOURCE: CMP Technology CONTACT: Kate Spellman, CMP Channel Group, +1-516-562-7383, Web site: http://www.cmp.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/181993.html |