Channel Daily News

A tie for top spot at the CDN Top 100 Solution Providers

Softchoice's John Husband with CDW Canada's J.D. Hupp

It was a photo-finish for CDW Canada and Softchoice at the annual CDN Top 100 Solution Providers Gala.

For the first time in Top 100 history two solution providers tied for top spot on the CDN Top 100 List. In the closest race ever, CDW Canada and Softchoice finished neck-and-neck to claim the No. 1 Solution Provider in Canada according to the CDN Top 100 Solution Providers rankings.

The list of 100 of the best IT solution providers was released last night at a gala awards ceremony attended by more than 200 channel partners from across the country.

The CDN Top 100 Solution Providers rankings has always had ties especially at the No. 100 spot, but with comparable revenues between $750 million to $800 million CDW Canada and Softchoice ended up even. The Etobicoke, Ont.-based CDW Canada was ranked No. 1 for the past three years, while Softchoice reaches the top after placing second each of the past three years. This is Softchoice’s first time back on top after an unprecedented seven consecutive years as the No. 1 solution provider in Canada.

There was one change in the Top 5 from last year. Long View Systems of Calgary advanced from the Top 10 into the Top 5 and claims the No. 5 spot. Coming in third because there is no second place this year Compugen of Richmond Hill, Ont. ONX rounds at the top five at No. 4.

CDN introduced five new award categories at this year’s event specific to solutions.  They are: Internet of Things, Security, Storage, Managed Print Services and Mobility. CDN decided the winners in each category based on percentage of overall revenue instead of total revenue.

The winners in those award categories are as follows:

The best performing newcomer comes from the IoT space. Convergint Technologies of Calgary considers itself an IoT solution providers and they ended up as the CDN Top 100 Best Performing Newcomer at the annual gala.

The Fastest Rising Star winner went to Toronto-based IT consultant MNP, who acquired noted CDN Top 100 player NCI in 2016. CDN decided to award this category based on percentage of overall revenue instead of total revenue.

In 2016, CDN embarked on a special Life Time Achievement Award program and honoured Lloyd Bryant, the long-time leader of HP Canada. This year’s Life Time Achievement Award was given to two well-deserving channel champions: Rick Reid, president of Tech Data Canada and Dave MacDonald, the former president and CEO of Softchoice. Both executives were presented with a Life Time Achievement Award from CDN.

The past three years has seen the Top 100 solution providers produce strong growth, but in 2016 the channel community in Canada surpassed the $8 billion milestone with an amazing 20 per cent growth, according to tabulations from CDN and IDC Canada.

The Top 100 Solution Providers Event was sponsored by Tech Data CanadaHP Inc. CanadaDell EMC CanadaHewlett-Packard Enterprise Canada, CA Technologies Canada and AMD Canada. Supporting sponsors included BlackBerry, Wells Fargo, VMware and Symantec Canada.

Click here to find out who made the Top 100 Solution Provider Rankings.

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