Microsoft Honours Outstanding Partner Achievements at 2008 Australian Partner Conference
Twenty-two partners recognised with Australian Partner Awards at gala event
Port Douglas, Australia – August 07, 2008: Today, at the Microsoft Australian Partner Conference in Port Douglas, Microsoft Australia proudly honoured an elite group of Microsoft partners for their exemplary delivery of innovative solutions and services to customers during the past year.
In recognition, 22 Microsoft partners, who were selected from a field of over 150 entrants, were presented with Australian Partner Awards. The award winners were selected from a group of finalists from around Australia based on their dedicated use of Microsoft technologies to deliver exemplary solutions and value to their customers.
“Our partners are the lifeblood of Microsoft’s business and through the Awards we’re able to highlight and recognise those who have gone above and beyond in delivering exceptional technological solutions and services to Australian customers,” said Mr Paul Voges, Director of Small and Mid Market Solutions and Partner Group, Microsoft Australia.
“It’s an honour to acknowledge their dedication and success as part of the Microsoft partner community, and also to recognise the broader role that they play as leaders in Australia’s IT sector.”
The 2008 Microsoft Australian Partner Conference is the largest in the event’s 16 year history, with over 640 delegates in attendance representing more than 300 businesses from across the nation.
This year’s Award recipients are:
Hosting Services Partner of the Year:- Winner: WebCentral
- Finalist: Enspire Australia
- Finalist: JayThom Pty Ltd
Microsoft Dynamics Competitive Solution of the Year:- Winner: Eclipse Computing
- Finalist: Hands-on Management
- Finalist: Tectura
- Finalist: Jaythom Pty Ltd
Microsoft Dynamics Fastest Growing Partner: - Winner: Praxa Limited
- Finalist: Austral Dynamics
- Finalist: Change Corporation Pty Ltd
Learning Solutions Partner of the Year: - Winner: EXCOM Education
- Finalist: IT Training Solutions (ITTS)
- Finalist: Advanced Training
Citizenship Initiative of the Year: - Winner: Brookstone Technologies
- Finalist: Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
- Finalist: Extreme Networks Pty Ltd
Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year: - Winner: Business Computing Australia
- Finalist: Comcity Technology
- Finalist: Evolve IT Australia
- Finalist: Calvert Technologies
Distribution Partner of the Year: - Winner: Altech Computers
- Finalist: Express Data
Licensing Solutions, Software Asset Management Partner of the Year:- Winner: Data#3 Limited
- Finalist: Dimension Data
- Finalist: Insight
Licensing Solutions, License Delivery Partner of the Year: - Winner: Data#3 Limited
- Finalist: Dimension Data
- Finalist: NewLease
ISV / Software Solutions Partner of the Year: - Winner: Dataract Pty Ltd
- Finalist: Task Retail Technologies
- Finalist: Nintex
ISV / Software Solutions Innovation Partner of the Year: - Winner: Hyro
- Finalist: Gravity Ventures Pty Ltd
- Finalist: iCare Solutions
Mobility Industry Solutions Partner of the Year: - Winner: Retriever Communications
- Finalist: Brennan IT
- Finalist: Strategic Data Management
Unified Communications Partner of the Year: - Winner: Ensyst Pty Ltd
- Finalist: Dimension Data
- Finalist: BlueIT
Information Worker Solutions, Portals and Collaboration Partner of the Year: - Winner: Productiv
- Finalist: Dimension Data
- Finalist: Data#3 Limited
Information Worker Solutions, Office Deployment Partner of the Year: - Winner: Dimension Data
- Finalist: Getrontics
Information Worker Solutions, Enterprise Content Management Partner of the Year:- Winner: Dataract
- Finalist: OBS
- Finalist: Macroview
Business Intelligence Partner of the Year: - Winner: CALUMO Group Pty Limited
- Finalist: ComOps Limited
- Finalist: Intellimax Solutions
- Finalist: Microgenx Pty Ltd
Data Management Solutions, Database Management Partner of the Year: - Winner: Snowden Technologies
- Finalist: Dimension Data
- Finalist: Zap Technology
Security Solutions Partner of the Year: - Winner: Data#3 Limited
- Finalist: UNIFY Solutions Pty Ltd
Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Thin Client Partner of the Year: - Winner: Gen-i Australia
- Finalist: Getronics Australia
Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Partner of the Year: - Winner: Unify Solutions Pty Limited
- Finalist: JASCO Consulting Pty Ltd
- Finalist: Data#3 Limited
- Finalist: Total Network Support Pty Ltd
Environment and Sustainability Solution of the Year: - Winner: Prima Consulting
- Finalist: Fujitsu Australia Limited
- Finalist: DSC-IT
For details on the individual awards, please see below.
About the Microsoft Australian Partner Conference
The Microsoft Australian Partner Conference provides Microsoft’s partner community with the knowledge, tools and resources to help them expand their business and support their customers. Along with informative learning opportunities covering sales, marketing, services and technology, the Australian Partner Conference is an ideal setting for partners to garner valuable knowledge from their peers and from Microsoft. More information can be found at
https://partner.microsoft.com/Australia/trainingevents/findevents/telocaustraliapc and on the Partner Program home page at
https://partner.microsoft.com/Australia
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.
About the award categories and criteria
Hosting Services Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who have demonstrated a commitment to innovation and to Microsoft. Companies must demonstrate how they (and the hosted services they have developed) have targeted an end-customer business challenge, either by identifying a new market opportunity or by creating an innovative technology solution.
Microsoft Dynamics Competitive Solution Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who have developed and sold effective Microsoft ® Dynamics ™ solutions that compete against similar technology solutions in the market.
Microsoft Dynamics Fastest Growing Partner of the Year
- This award celebrates and recognises the partner sales team that has grown their sales transactions and revenue by the greatest amount in the past year.
Learning Solutions Partner of the Year
- This award recognises commitment and ability to deliver high-quality learning services - using Microsoft technology - to meet customer needs. It also demonstrates how customer satisfaction is enhanced through skills assessment, technical training, student mentoring, and Microsoft Certified Professional exam preparation.
Citizenship Initiative Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who have influenced or made a sustained commitment to creating jobs and education opportunities for under-served or remote populations, with special consideration for indigenous communities.
Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year
- This award recognises a local partner who has consistently delivered quality, innovative solutions for their small business customers. With a focus on the latest Microsoft technology, the recipient will have demonstrated the business value of using products such as Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2003 R2, Windows Vista ™ and the 2007 Microsoft® Office system, along with (but not limited to) solutions based on Windows Mobile® , Microsoft Dynamics ™ CRM or Microsoft Forefront ™ . This award is open to all currently enrolled members of the Australian Small Business Specialist (SBSC) Program and typically showcases examples from customers with up to 50 employees.
Distribution Partner of the Year
- This award recognises local distribution partners. Entrants are judged by how well they executed key launches, strategies and marketing activities - as well as engagement with Microsoft and its reseller community.
Licensing Solutions, Software Asset Management Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who consistently seek to innovate their Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions and services, and provide ongoing attention to customer-service excellence.
Licensing Solutions, License Delivery Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who consistently seek to innovate their licensing solutions and services, and provide ongoing attention to customer-service excellence.
ISV / Software Solutions Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who excel at developing and delivering packaged software to customers. The solution must work with one or more of Microsoft's latest server platforms and middleware products, including Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005, Microsoft® Windows Server 2003, BizTalk 2006, Microsoft® Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Business Solutions (all products and versions) and Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007. The solution must also be built using Microsoft® .NET ™ development frameworks and tools, including Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 or Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008. An ISV software solution qualifies if it has helped customers make better-informed decisions and has facilitated effective collaboration with colleagues, customers and Partners.
ISV / Software Solutions Innovation Partner of the Year
- This award recognises an ISV who has developed an innovative, disruptive approach to solving a new or existing business or consumer need based on the latest Microsoft server or client technologies. Entrants must have demonstrated leadership in the areas of innovation, market potential, media and analyst buzz, investor value creation and customer adoption.
Mobility Industry Solutions Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who specialise in developing, deploying, supporting, and marketing software solutions and services based on Windows Mobile® technologies.
Unified Communications Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who have excelled in offering breakthrough communication solutions based on the Microsoft® Office system. Solutions must enable intuitive and seamless communications across email, instant messaging, voice, data, video, and Web conferencing, and earn recognition for the unique and positive impact they have had on customers’ business pain points.
Information Worker Solutions, Portals and Collaboration Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who have excelled in offering breakthrough solutions using the Microsoft® Office system. Submissions must highlight the unique and positive impact they have had on customers’ business pain points.
Information Worker Solutions, Office Deployment Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who have excelled in offering breakthrough solutions to deploy the Microsoft® Office system in customer organisations. Submissions must demonstrate the unique and positive impact they have had on customers’ business pain points.
Information Worker Solutions, Enterprise Content Management Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who have excelled in offering breakthrough Microsoft® Office® system solutions. Submissions must show the unique and positive impact they have had on customers’ business pain points.
Business Intelligence Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who provide data-warehousing and business-intelligence solutions that improve organisations by providing business insight to all employees —leading to better, faster, and more-relevant decisions.
Data Management Solutions, Database Management Partner of the Year
- This award recognises exceptional partners who support customers with mission-critical applications. Solutions must show how they used Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005 to reduce application downtime, increase scalability and performance, and tighten security controls.
Security Solutions Partner of the Year
- This award recognises partners who have demonstrated superior expertise in providing services focused on developing security strategies, governance, policies, procedures, risk assessments and risk management, while providing overall information-protection and security-management services.
Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Thin Client Partner of the Year Criteria
- This award recognises partners with proven expertise in helping customers implement Microsoft® Windows Server Terminal Services or Windows Vista ™ Enterprise Centralised Desktop environments. Solutions will have provided a comprehensive, end-to-end solution that leveraged the robust capabilities of either of these technologies.
Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Partner of the Year
- This award honours partners with proven proficiency in implementing solutions based on Microsoft® Windows Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS).
Environment and Sustainability Solution Partner of the Year
- This award honours partners who have delivered solutions on Microsoft technology that have supported customers reducing or managing their environmental impact, or related outcomes.
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