Frankfurt - IT Europa, the leading European IT publisher and market intelligence organisation, today announced the winners of the European IT Excellence Awards - the first pan-European awards event for IT and Telecoms channels. The finalists were honoured last night at a celebration dinner at the Intercontinental Hotel, in Frankfurt.

The European IT Excellence Awards are the first pan-European awards which recognise the crucial role that Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Solution Providers play in the delivery of real world solutions, and attracted entries from more than 30 countries. Entries were submitted by ISVs and resellers describing the solution provided and each had to be supported by an endorsement by the client. 49 companies from 16 countries made the finals. The winners were selected by an independent panel of consultants and editors.

The IT Europa award for IT excellence, the award to the entry across all 16 categories that most impressed the judges, was won by Appear Networks for a wireless productivity solution they developed for their client Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS (Dutch Rail).

Another notable award on the night, for the European Channel Personality of the year, went to Gerhard Schulz, Senior Vice President & Executive Managing Director, Ingram Micro Distribution GmbH. This award was based on the results of a poll of 20,000 directors of Europe’s leading 8,000 channel organisations - the readership of 8020 Europa, IT Europa’s pan-European channel magazine. In accepting the award Gerhard Schulz was quick to acknowledge the role his team had played in dealing with the company’s challenges: “What we achieved in 2007 was a team success and as much as I feel honoured to receive the IT Europa European Channel Personality of the Year Award today, I feel honoured and proud to be managing such a great team”

Other winners include: Xtract, Aldata, jMind Consultancy, INFOTHENA, IBS, SIVECO Romania SA, Fordway Solutions Ltd, Controlware Communications, Northdoor plc, vc-net, Care Telecom, Excell Group, Central Telecom, Esprinet, EMC, Appear Networks

In congratulating the winners, Alan Norman, Managing Director of IT Europa said: “the overall quality of entries was extremely high and demonstrated the depth of talent in the channel community across Europe. I congratulate all the winners and wish them and all the finalists every success in the year ahead”

The awards categories were divided into two main groups: ISVs and Solution Providers. The ISV categories were for software-based solutions for which the ISV had written the bulk of the solution itself. The Solution Provider categories were for complete solutions that include hardware, software, communications and services. As well as the channel categories there were two supplier categories for which channel companies nominated their distributors or vendors for the support provided through their channel programs.

The European IT Excellence Awards – results:

ISV Award Categories

Business Intelligence
Sponsored by Microsoft
Winner: Xtract Ltd.
Other finalists: SoftPro Tetral d.o.o.

Communications & Mobility
Sponsored by Macrovision
Winner: Aldata Solution
Other finalists: HansaWorld
Mediixine Oy
Appgate

Enterprise Application
Sponsored by Roguewave
Winner: jMind Consultancy
Other finalists: IBA Group
Mamut ASA
Megabyte Ltd

Information Management
Sponsored by Hitachi Data Systems
Winner: INFOTHENA
Other finalists: Efecte Corp
IBA Group
STR SpA

SaaS Solution
Sponsored by SIIA
Winner: IBS
Other finalists: Aspire Technology

Vertical Market
Sponsored by European Software Assoc.
Winner: SIVECO Romania SA
Other finalists: edge IPK
Wipro Technologies

Solution Provider Award Categories

Data & Information Management
Sponsored by Macrovision
Winner: Fordway Solutions Ltd
Other finalists: Jcom

E-Business
Sponsored by IBM
Winner: IBS
Other finalists: EuroOffice Ltd
Itransition

Enterprise
Sponsored by EMC
Winner: Controlware Communications
Other finalists: IBA Group
Keystone Computer Group
SIVECO Romania SA

Managed Service
Sponsored by Ness Europe
Winner: Northdoor plc
Other finalists: 2e2 Ltd
Aspire Technology

Mobility
Sponsored by Microsoft
Winner: Appear Networks
Other finalists: Anglia Business Solutions
Logos.a.s..

Pan- European
Winner: vc-net
Other finalists: Central Telecom UK Ltd
Tango/04

SMB
Sponsored by Progress Software
Winner: Care Telecom
Other finalists: SoftPro Tetral d.o.o.

Unified Communications
Sponsored by IT Europa
Winner: Excell Group
Other finalists: Central Telecom UK Ltd
Controlware Communications/ntl:Telewest/North Lancashire Council

Vertical Market
Sponsored by Wick Hill
Winner: Central Telecom
Other finalists: Anglia Business Solutions
NS Optimum Limited

Supplier Award Categories

Distributor Channel Program
Sponsored by Channel Dynamics
Winner: Esprinet
Other finalists: ASBIS Croatia
Wick Hill Group

Vendor Channel Program
Sponsored by Foster MacCallum
Winner: EMC
Other finalists: Avaya
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
Hitachi Data Systems
HP
VMware
WatchGuard Technologies