CRN Highlights the Best of the Best Products, Solution Providers and Vendors of 2013

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Dec. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Channel Company's CRN today highlights its much- anticipated annual awards and recognitions published in the fourth quarter, featuring the Annual Report Card (ARC), Top 100 Executives, Products of the Year and more. These prestigious CRN lists identify the best of the best among the IT and channel industry. Highlights of the fourth quarter include:

• Annual Report Card: For the past 28 years, CRN has been polling solution providers for their take on the strengths and weaknesses of the IT vendors they work with. The ARC was designed to help solution providers identify which vendors have a channel focus and have made the necessary investments for a successful channel effort.
• Tech Innovator Awards: A panel of CRN editors honored winners based on each company's use of innovation to advance technology, increase productivity, reduce cost and complexity, and provide value to the channel over the past 12 months.
• Top 100 Executives: This annual list salutes the most influential and innovative executives in North America. Winners were chosen based on nominations from solution providers and ranked executives based on channel influence, effectiveness and visibility, along with business and sales impact.
• Enterprise App Awards: Recognizing the top mobile apps for business, the third annual Appy awards highlight outstanding achievement in driving enterprise IT into the hands of users.
• Solution Provider 500 Awards: Presented at the Best of Breed (BoB) thought leadership conference, the awards recognize the category winners from the list of the same name. These solution providers have evolved and thrived in today's cloud- and services-driven IT era.
• Best Companies to Partner With: Based on comprehensive research, the project ranks the top 25 must-have vendors that solution providers should consider when looking for a partner.
• Products of the Year: Selected by CRN's Test Center editors, products are recognized for overall technical excellence, supported by a top-of-the-line channel partner program.  The annual list recognizes the best of the best by awarding products that are not only incredibly innovative, but can change a solution provider's business in an instant.

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Also, this quarter, CRN won two min Editorial Awards, recognizing excellence in content and design among consumers and B2B media brands.  The winning submissions included the February 2013 issue of CRN for Best Single Magazine Issue B2B, and ""Five Tech Companies That Milked The Stimulus" for Best Feature Article. CRN was also recognized with an honorable mention in four additional categories including: Opinion/Commentary -– "Amazon Cloud: Is It Good For The Channel?"; Editorial Series – Microsoft Surface Coverage on crn.com; Profile or Q&A – "Pivotal Moment," A Profile of Paul Maritz; and Slideshows – Head-To-Head Slideshow Series.

"As 2013 comes to an end, we are proud to acknowledge the products, solution providers and vendors that made the biggest impact on our industry this year," said Robert Faletra, CEO, The Channel Company. "Our annual lists continue to serve as an invaluable resource to the channel community and as an award-winning publication, we remain steadfast in our mission to offer compelling, relevant and timely content to support innovation, foster long-lasting partnerships and encourage insightful dialogue among channel and IT executives. We look forward to a successful 2014."

To learn more about CRN lists and rankings, please visit: http://www.crn.com/rankings-and-lists/index.htm.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company is the channel community's trusted authority for growth and innovation, with established brands including CRN, XChange Events, IPED, and SharedVue. For more than three decades, we have leveraged our proven and leading edge platforms to deliver prescriptive sales and marketing solutions for the technology channel. The Channel Company provides Communication, Recruitment, Engagement, Enablement, Demand Generation and Intelligence services to drive technology partnerships. Learn more at www.thechannelcompany.com.

SOURCE The Channel Company