Cisco partner awards: DiData, Telstra, Optus, NEC win big

Cisco has named its top partners ahead of this week's Cisco Live conference, with Dimension Data, Optus Business, NEC Australia and Telstra taking home multiple gongs.

Optus Business won both Services Partner of the Year and Cisco Capital Partner of the Year.

Dimension Data took out the Cloud Solution Excellence Partner and the Community Contribution trophies as a company, while staffer Lee Stafford was recognised with an individual Technical Excellence award.

Telstra was honoured as Cloud Partner of the Year and Vertical Solution Innovation Partner as an organisation, with Bridge Point Communications – which the telco acquired in October – winning Internet of Everything Partner of the Year.

Telstra employees Chris Losco (Alliance Manager of the Year) and Lianne Cummins-Toi (Teaming Excellence Award) scored individual awards to top off a well-recognised 2014 for the company.

NEC Australia rounded out the multi-award winners: the company took out the Innovation Partner of the Year and staffer Arthur Thodis went home with the Solutions Delivery Excellence award.

"Personally, I would like to congratulate all of this year's winners for their tenacity, innovation, customer service and technical excellence in their respective fields," said Cisco ANZ partner business group director Jason Brouwers.

Cisco partner awards

Small Business Partner of the Year: Mercury IT

Mid-Market Partner of the Year: Harbour IT

Cisco Capital Partner of the Year: Optus Business

Services Partner of the Year: Optus Business

Application Platform Partner of the Year: Contexti

Cloud Partner of the Year: Telstra

Cloud Solution Excellence Partner of the Year: Dimension Data

Vertical Solution Innovation Partner of the Year: Telstra

Distribution Partner of the Year: Ingram Micro Australia

Innovation Partner of the Year: NEC Australia

Innovation Partner of the Year: Spark Digital New Zealand

Internet of Everything Partner of the Year: Bridge Point Communications

Smart and Connected Partner of the Year: iiNet

Software Solutions Partner of the Year: Data#3

Technical Excellence Award: Lee Stafford, Dimension Data

Alliance Manager of the Year: Chris Losco, Telstra

Teaming Excellence Award: Lianne Cummins-Toi, Telstra and John Kent, Cisco

Solutions Delivery Excellence Award: Arthur Thodis, NEC Australia

Learning Partner of the Year: Dimension Data Learning Solutions

Community Contribution Award: Dimension Data

Marketing awards

Best revenue marketing program: Optus

Best vertical marketing program: Amcom

Best Cisco Powered marketing program: Data#3

Best Distributor marketing program: Dicker Data