Credit: Dreamstime
NetApp held its annual partner awards in Sydney on 21 November to recognise top performing businesses and individuals during 2019.
Seven partners were recognised for their demonstrated leadership in the channel by working with customers, fostering innovation and optimisation of operations.
The awards also singled out five individuals who have demonstrated excellence and outstanding performance.
Nexon solutions consultant Justin Bailey was named The Data Visionary of the Year, highlighting outstanding thought leadership, solution design, evangelism of the data fabric concept, and for driving new and innovative initiatives around the use of data.
Thomas Duryea Logicalis gained some special attention after achieving NetApp’s Gold Partner of the Year, and also reaching the highest tier possible, gaining Global Star status in NetApp’s partner program.
Yell IT took home the Converged Infrastructure/Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure Excellence award, while New Partner of the Year went to Global Storage.
Xpanse scored Platinum Partner of the Year and Nexon took home Cloud Provider of the Year. Global Systems Integrator of the Year went to NTT.
Individually, Westcon-Comstor’s James Bright was recognised for Marketing Excellence and Sales Excellence went to Cube’s Frank Arena, while AdventOne’s Taylor Holloway scored Technical Excellence.
There were dual winners for Alliance Partner Champion being Equinix’s Rob Ironmonger and NTT’s Andy McInnes.
IT industry stalwart, Nick Verykios was inducted into the NetApp Hall of Fame.
“The high calibre of entries this year is a testament to the commitment of our partners and the continuous collaboration between our business and those who are committed to delivering the data fabric message to the market,” NetApp A/NZ director of channels and alliances, Neville James, said.
“NetApp’s partner network is fundamental to the success of our business and both finalists and award winners have demonstrated outstanding effort working with customers, providing unique solutions supported by our advanced capabilities.”
