Gen-i and Dimension Data led the pack at Microsoft's 2012 New Zealand Partner Awards, winning three awards each, with PC Media taking out the hotly contested new category on cloud computing.

"We are thrilled to recognise a number of our partners who have achieved amazing business outcomes this year. We added a new category in recognition of the great things our partners are doing in cloud computing and cloud-based solutions also featured highly in the other categories,” says Microsoft's Director of Small, Midmarket Solutions and Partner Division, Chris Ichter.

“The entry calibre was exceptional and it was sometimes hard to pick a winner, resulting in us having two categories with joint winners. We have more than 3000 partners and this is one way we are able to thank them for the great work they do.

Joint winners, Gen-i and Hewlett-Packard, were Communications Partners of the Year and Gen-i also took top place in the Devices and Deployment category while Gen-i's David McFarlane-Smith won Solutions Architect of the Year.

Dimension Data also led the pack, similarly picking up three of the first place awards for Server Platform Partner of the Year, Management and Visualisation Partner of the Year and Innovative Technology for Good Citizenship Partner of the Year. The judges found the social impact of its work with the Prison Fellowship on an Angel Tree giving program to be particularly admirable. Dimension Data was also a finalist for Communications Partner of the Year.

Datacom received multiple honors, earning first place for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Partner of the Year for impressive customer satisfaction, a slick user interface and specialisation into the FMCG vertical. As well as being a finalist for Cloud Partner of the Year, it also took a finalist position in the Windows 8 App Developer Partner of the Year behind NV Interactive which was honored at the Global Partner Awards in 2012. Datacom was also a finalist for Management and Virtualisation Partner of the Year.

Cloud computing featured strongly in a number of categories, a reflection of the IT industry's transformation towards online services. Cloud Partner of the Year winner PC Media blended public and private clouds and used Microsoft Remote Desktop Services in its winning solution. The judges said it showed a strong understanding of hybrid cloud models.

Datacom, a perennial winner at the awards, and Provoke Solutions were finalists in the new cloud category while Sealord Group's Neville Richardson won Partners' Choice CIO of the Year for a cloud-driven solution with partner Datacom. The judges said Mr. Richardson had a vision to move everything to process-as-a-service in the cloud and focused on added-valued activity in the IT department. He was commended for taking both the top down (business strategy) and bottom up (operational requirement) IT demands and rolling them into a coherent IT strategy. Where Sealord was previously spending ~70% of their IT budget on ‘keeping the lights on', through the leveraging of cloud-based services they have been able to flip that equation on its head and are now spending 70% of investment on strategic technology solutions.

Eighteen awards were presented this year from four categories – Solution, Individual, Partnering and Supreme.

The full list of winners from the Microsoft New Zealand 2012 Partner Awards is below:

Solution Awards

Business Intelligence Partner of the Year Winner: Altis Consulting Finalists: Montage, Theta Systems, Datacom

Collaboration and Content Partner of the Year Winner: Provoke Finalists: Enlighten Designs, Information Leadership

Communications Partner of the Year Joint Winners: Gen-i, Hewlett Packard Finalists: Dimension Data, Softsource Ltd

Customer Relationship Management Partner of the Year Winner: Datacom Finalists: P-L Limited, Magnetism Solutions

Devices and Deployment (Desktop) Partner of the Year Winner: Gen-i Finalists: Computer Concepts Limited

Enterprise Resource Planning Partner of the Year Winner: Intergen Finalists: None

Management - Virtualisation Partner of the Year Winner: Dimension Data Finalist: Computer Concepts Limited, Datacom

Server Platform Partner of the Year Winner: Dimension Data Finalists: None

Windows 8 App Developer Partner of the Year Winner: NV Interactive Finalists: Datacom, Marker Metro

Partners Choice CIO of the Year Winner: Neville Richardson from Sealord Group – nominated by Datacom Finalists: None

Solutions Architect of the Year Winner: David McFarlane-Smith from Gen-i Finalists: None

Cloud Partner of the Year Winner: PC Media Finalists: Datacom, Provoke Solutions

Distributor of the Year Winner: Express Data Finalist: NewLease

Small Business Partner of the Year Joint Winners: Kinetics Group, Softsource Ltd Finalist: Origin IT

Training Solutions Partner of the Year Winner: Auldhouse Training Finalists: ACE Computer Training, Kinetics Group

Volume Licensing Partner of the Year Winner: Fujitsu NZ Finalists: Gen-i, Business Mechanix

Innovative Technology for Good Citizenship Partner of the Year Winner: Dimension Data Finalists: Magnetism Solutions, NV Interactive

Start-Up Partner of the Year Winner: The Full Suite Finalists: Virsae, P-L Limited