Mark Davison reports on HPE SA’s Annual Awards – Colourful sets, dazzling outfits and graceful dance routines brought a little cheer to a pandemic-battered channel this afternoon when HPE South Africa held its first ever virtual awards ceremony which, expectedly, was mostly dominated by industry stalwarts.
Tarsus Distribution scooped the coveted HPE Hybrid IT (HIT) Distributor of the Year award, while Datacentrix was named as the company’s HIT Partner of the Year and HIT Platinum Partner of the Year. Datacentrix also secured awards as HPE’s Pointnext Services Partner of the Year and its Nimble Partner of the Year.
One of the country’s oldest IT specialists, Duxbury Networking, took home the award for Aruba Distributor of the Year.
In the individual stakes, Tarsus’ Samantha Moss was named HPE Distribution Product Manager of the Year, while her colleague at the distributor, Margo Broers, was recognised as HPE Distribution Business Development Manager of the Year.
Dylan Horsten, CEO of MySky Networks, won the Aruba Sales Champion of the Year award, while Datacentrix’s Rodney Mabunda was named Aruba Distinguished Engineer of the Year. Adding a little family spice, Dean Horsten, CTO of MySky Networks, was the runner-up in the latter category.
Despite the global catastrophe of Covid-19, HPE South Africa MD, President Ntuli says the company managed to grow all sectors of its business except for a slight decline in its hyperconvergence business. He is optimistic that, with the support of the local channel, this growth trend will continue in 2021.
Marc Waters, senior vice-president UK, Ireland and MESA, is equally optimistic. “The South African business is transforming under the leadership of President Ntuli and we have big expectations for 2021,” Waters says. “There are market share gain opportunities looming and we look forward to taking advantage of these with our partners.”
The full list of this year’s winners (with runners-up in brackets) is as follows:
Aruba Awards:
Aruba Sales Champion of the Year: Dylan Horsten, MySky Networks. (Teneille White, First Technology).
Distinguished Engineer of the Year: Rodney Mabunda, Datacentrix. (Dean Horsten, MySky Networks).
Software Solution Partner of the Year: Khipu Networks. (First Technology).
Deal of the Year: MySky Networks. (NEC XON).
Distributor of the Year: Duxbury Networking. (Tarsus Technology Group).
Emerging Partner of the Year: Kubyala ICT Solutions. (Pronto Computer Solutions).
Partner of the Year: First Technology Group.
HPE Distribution Awards
Distribution Product Manager of the Year: Samantha Moss, Tarsus. (Deon Oosthuysen, Axiz).
Business Development Manager of the Year: Margo Broers, Tarsus. (Thato Sizani, Axiz).
Hybrid IT Distributor of the Year: Tarsus Distribution. (Axiz).
HPE Pointnext Awards
Hybrid IT Partner Specialisation Awards:
Pointnext Services Partner of the Year: Datacentrix. (EOH).
Pointnext Services Delivery Partner of the Year: Datacentrix. (SYSDBA).
HPE Growth Strategic Initiative Category Awards
Hybrid IT Fastest Growing Partner of the Year: SYSDBA. (Dimension Data).
Nimble Partner of the Year: Datacentrix. (Business Connexion).
Pointnext Services Greenlake Deal of the Year: Dimension Data. (Axiz and Knekt Telecoms).
HPE Hybrid IT Partner Specialisation Awards
Hybrid IT Compute Partner of the Year: Dimension Data. (EOH).
Storage Partner of the Year: SYSDBA. (Dimension Data).
Business Partner of the Year: NEC XON. (SDS Technical Services).
Hybrid IT Gold Partner of the Year: Dimension Data. (SYSDBA).
Hybrid IT Platinum Partner of the Year: Datacentrix. (EOH).
Hybrid IT Partner of the Year: Datacentrix.