Channel ME Awards 2011 presented in Dubai

Vendors, resellers and distributors last night celebrated the 2011 Channel Middle East Awards in Dubai.

Over 300 executives gathered for the awards, which recognized the companies and individuals that have done the most to build and improve the Middle East channel business.

Nineteen awards were presented, in four categories, to honour the channel partners and vendors of the region. The awards were presented at a gala dinner, held at the Zabeel Saray Hotel on Dubai's Palm.

Highlights of the award included Raj Shankar, CEO of Redington Gulf, recognized as Channel Executive of the Year, while HP's Amin Mortazavi was awarded for Outstanding Contribution to the Middle East Channel.

In the reader voted categories, selected via online voting by the readers of Channel Middle East and Channel Arabic, and itp.net, Computerlinks Distribution won the award for Best Growth Initiative by a Distributor for its Channel Partner Profiling and Gap Analysis program, while Cisco took Best Vendor Partner Programme for the for the ‘Led by You, Supported by Us: Partner Sales Force Program'.

Ali Nemati, channel sales manager of HP, the platinum sponsor of the event, presented a keynote address.

The winners of the 2011 awards

Components Vendor of the Year - Western Digital

Networking Vendor of the Year - Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

Peripherals Vendor of the Year - Promate Technologies

Printing & Consumables Vendor of the Year - Xerox Corporation

Software Vendor of the Year - Kaspersky Lab

Systems & Hardware Vendor of the Year - EMC

IT Distributor of the Year - Aptec Holdings

Value Added Distributor of the Year - WestconME Group

Retail Distributor of the Year - Axiom Telecom

Enterprise Reseller of the Year - Emitac Enterprise Solutions

SMB & Commercial Reseller of the Year - Accent Office Supplies

Retail Company of the Year - Sharaf DG

Best Vendor Channel Programme of the Year - Cisco

Best Growth Initiative by a Distributor - Computerlinks Distribution

Best Channel Growth - Avnet Technology Solutions

Best Channel Sales Person of the Year - Kamran Khayal, Trigon Distribution

Best Company Contribution to Market Awareness & Education - HP

Channel Executive of the Year - Raj Shankar, Redington Gulf

Outstanding Contribution to the Middle East Channel - Amin Mortazavi, HP