SAN JOSE, Calif., April 29, 2003 - Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced its 2003 Partner Summit Award winners. These awards recognize channel partners who have demonstrated superior technical expertise, customer satisfaction and value-added business models in 2002.
"Channel partners are such a vital component of our business we are proud to recognize the best in class," said Paul Mountford, vice president Worldwide Channels at Cisco Systems. "This year's winners have proven that focusing on customer satisfaction, developing technical expertise and delivering value added services are key to building success."
Cisco announced 11 Partner Summit Award winners in the following categories: Global Customer Satisfaction Partner of the Year, Global Gold Partner of the Year, Global Silver Partner of the Year, Global Premier Partner of the Year, Global Distribution Partner of the Year, Multinational Partner of the Year, Americas International Partner of the Year, Asia Pac Partner of the Year, EMEA Partner of the Year, Japan Partner of the Year and US Partner of the Year.
Cisco employed a three-phased approach to determine the 11 winners from the more than 3,000 eligible Cisco certified channel partners. Phase one, evaluated the channel partners on whether or not they exceeded the Cisco certified program requirements and identified 15 nominees from each theater. Phase two, used an independent third-party to determine the nominee's Cisco-related services business and reduced the list down to 3 nominees from each theater. Phase three, interviewed the nominee's Channel Account Manager, Manager Channel Operations or Operations Director to get a better understanding of the nominee's technical innovation, commitment to customer satisfaction and value proposition. The interview results where than presented to the Cisco Worldwide Channels Board, which consists of all theater channel leaders, to review and select the winners.
And the Winners Are
- Global Customer Satisfaction Partner of the Year -- Dimension Data (Germany)
- Global Gold Partner of the Year - Avodaq (Germany)
- Global Silver Partner of the Year - Desca (Venezuela)
- Global Premier Partner of the Year - Landata (Spain)
- Global Distribution Partner of the Year - Azlan (United Kingdom)
- Multinational Partner of the Year - IBM (United States)
- Americas International Partner of the Year -- Bell Canada (Canada)
- Asia Pacific Partner of the Year -- Logical Networks (Australia)
- EMEA Partner of the Year - Telindus (Belgium)
- Japan Partner of the Year -- Net One Systems (Japan)
- US Partner of the Year -- Berbee Information Networks (United States)
More information on these channel partners is available on the Cisco Partner Locator at www.cisco.com/go/partnerlocator.
