South Africa’s resellers have once again made their voices heard, voting for their favourite vendors in the 2020 Channelwise Awards.

Over the years, the Channelwise Awards have tracked the progress of the South African IT industry, reflecting each year how technology and the various players have grown, matured and changed.

2021 marked the second year of a world grappling with Covid-19 and various lockdowns. For South African companies, global stock shortages and supply chain issues were exacerbated by civil unrest, depressed business confidence, currency fluctuation and local elections.

Despite all the challenges, the IT industry has risen to the occasion, with resellers continuing to service their customers with the support of vendors and distributors.

For the Channelwise Awards, reseller partners chose their favourite vendors and distributors in the following categories: Infrastructure, Networking; End User Devices; Printers and Peripherals; Security; and Components and Accessories.

The categories and sub-categories reflect the changing industry and highlight the technology directions that partners and their end user customers are taking.

Well over 1 000 reseller partners took part in this year’s Channelwise Awards survey, sending clear messages to their vendors and distributors and helping to drive more positive changes in the years to come.

The top vendors in 2020, as voted by the reseller channel, are as follows:

 

Infrastructure

Servers

Finalists: Dell; HPE; Lenovo

Winner: Dell

 

IaaS/PaaS providers

Finalists: Microsoft Azure; AWS; Teraco

Winner: Microsoft Azure

 

Virtualisation

Finalists: VMware; Microsoft; Nutanix

Winner: VMware

 

Hyperconverged Infrastructure

Finalists: VMware; Nutanix; Dell

Winner: VMware

 

Storage subsystems

Finalists: Dell; HPE; Lenovo

Winner: Dell

 

Backup systems

Finalists: Veeam; Dell; Commvault

Winner: Veeam

 

Cloud Storage

Finalists: Microsoft; VMware, AWS

Winner: Microsoft

 

UPS

Finalists: Eaton; APC; Mecer

Winner: APC

 

Inverters

Finalists: Mecer; Apex; RCT

Winner: Mecer

 

Networking

Networking devices (switches, routers etc)

Finalists: HPE; Cisco; Dell

Winner: Cisco

 

SD-WAN

Finalists: VMware; Fortinet; Cisco

Winner: VMware

 

Cabling

Finalists: Zone by DataNet; Molex; Netgear

Winner: Molex

 

Edge Computing (IoT Gateways etc)

Finalists: HPE; Dell; Huawei

Winner: Dell

 

Cabinets and Racks

Finalists: HPE; APC; Huawei

Winner: APC

 

Network Management

Finalists: Cisco; HPE; Dell

Winner: Dell

 

Printers and peripherals

Laser printers and MFPs

Finalists: HP Inc; Brother; Canon

Winner: HP Inc

 

Inkjet printers and MFPs

Finalists: HP Inc; Canon; Epson

Winner: HP Inc

 

Projectors

Finalists: Epson; Acer; Dell

Winner: Epson

 

Scanners and ECM

Finalists: HPE; Fujitsu; Ricoh

Winner: HPE

 

Monitors

Finalists: Dell; Samsung; HP Inc

Winner: Dell

 

End user devices

Personal Computers

Finalists: Dell; Lenovo; HP Inc

Winner: Dell

 

Workstations

Finalists: Dell; Lenovo; HP Inc

Winner: Dell

 

Thin Clients

Finalists: HP Inc; Dell; Lenovo

Winner: Dell

 

Gaming PCs

Finalists: Dell; Asus; MSI

Winner: Dell

 

Notebooks

Finalists: Dell; HP Inc; Lenovo

Winner: Dell

 

Gaming Notebooks

Finalists: Dell; Asus; MSI

Winner: Dell

 

Tablets

Finalists: Samsung; Lenovo; Apple

Winner: Samsung

 

Security

Endpoint software

Finalists: Kaspersky; Microsoft; Sophos

Winner: Kaspersky

 

Hardware (appliances)

Finalists: Fortinet; Cisco; SonicWall

Winner: Cisco

 

Network/cloud security

Finalists: Fortinet; Symantec; McAfee

Winner: Fortinet

 

Security management

Finalists: Fortinet; Cisco; Solarwinds

Winner: Fortinet

 

Cameras

Finalists: HikVision; Axis; Dahua

Winner: HikVision

 

Components and accessories

Bags and sleeves

Finalists: Targus; Dell; Port

Winner: Targus

 

Headphones

Finalists: Logitech; Redragon; Jabra

Winner: Logitech

 

Keyboards, mouses, joysticks, VR headsets

Finalists: Logitech; Microsoft; Redragon

Winner: Logitech

 

CPUs and GPUs

Finalists: Intel; AMD; Nvidia

Winner: Intel

 

Graphic Cards

Finalists: Nvidia; MSI; Asus

Winner: Nvidia

 

Memory

Finalists: Kingston; Transcend; Crucial

Winner: Kingston

 

Disk Drives

Finalists: Seagate; Kingston; Western Digital

Winner: Seagate

 

Sensors (IoT devices)

Finalists: Xiaomi; Raspberry Pi; LifeSmart

Winner: Xiaomi