Tech Data’s Azlan named European Markets Channel Partner of the Year

May 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Tech Data’s Enterprise division Azlan, Europe’s leading distributor of enterprise networking, server, storage and enterprise software solutions, has been named European Channel Partner of the Year by Cisco –at the vendor’s annual Partner Summit in San Francisco.

Azlan is the first distributor to receive this award, which is the most prestigious of the annual awards that the company presents as it reaches across all its channels. Azlan was also presented with the Partner Elevation Award in recognition of the work it has done in helping partners to develop their knowledge of Cisco technologies. In addition, eight of Azlan’s country operations have been presented with Cisco Distribution Partner of the Year awards.

All awards recognise Azlan’s achievements in delivering accelerated growth for Cisco and its reseller partners through a wide range of innovative programs and initiatives, and its continuing success in recruiting and supporting Cisco partners by enabling them to develop their skills in Cisco technologies, attain official Cisco certifications and accreditations, and to identify and address opportunities to grow their Cisco sales.

Commenting on the awards, Simon England, Vice President Enterprise and Managing Director Europe for Azlan, stated: “We have worked very closely with Cisco over the past year introducing a series of bold initiatives further accelerating partner development and growth, intentionally despite the economic challenges. So we are very proud to be recognized by Cisco for exactly these achievements.  This is a tremendous vote of confidence in the investment and commitment we have made to Cisco, and confirms - in truly the strongest possible way - our strategy of placing channel enablement and activation at the core of our value proposition. Hence we are all the more encouraged to deliver creative programs and solutions offering value for our partners.”

In his official citation for the European Partner of the Year award, Thierry Drilhon, Vice President, Worldwide Partner Organization, Europe, stated: “There can only be one European Markets Theatre Partner of the Year. To win, a partner must consistently prove itself to be Europe’s top performer across the board, in terms of capability, geographical coverage and customer satisfaction. Without question, this year’s award winner is Azlan. This award not only thanks you for your tremendous success, but also demonstrates our commitment to you. I am confident that our continued partnership can only go on to even greater success.”

Over the past year, Azlan has introduced a number of innovative programs designed to help Cisco partners accelerate their business. It has also achieved a number of firsts in the Cisco channel. It recently became the first European distributor to make shipments of the Cisco UCS C-Series and is leading the way in enabling partners to acquire competencies in Cisco data centre solutions and building coherent go-to-market plans. TD Azlan also recently launched Felix, a unique quotation and order management system for Cisco SMARTnet services that enables resellers to deliver a faster and more efficient service to end user customers.

Other initiatives that have helped Azlan achieve exceptional results with Cisco, including a program that provides resellers with all the resources, information and support they require to attain skills in Cisco Unified Communications solutions, and the Cisco SMB University, which enables resellers to develop their knowledge of Cisco products, systems and programs for the small- and medium-sized business sector. Azlan has also invested significantly in networked video technologies and developed bespoke credit facilities for Cisco partners.

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Azlan, the Enterprise Division of Tech Data Corporation, is the leading value-added distributor of networking, communications, midrange enterprise server, storage and software solutions in Europe.