Nokia a Gold 5-Star Overall Winner for channel program

Nokia for Business Channel Program hailed for significant partner benefits by CMP Channel’s VARBusiness 2008 Partner Program Guide

New York, US and Espoo, Finland - VARBusiness, a CMP publication, has awarded Nokia its highest accolade, the prestigious Gold 5-Star Overall Winner for 2008, in recognition of the benefits to partners of the Nokia for Business Channel Program.

VARBusinesses’ 2008 Partner Program Guide (PPG) is a guide that acknowledges the commitment and strength of a vendor’s partner programs for its Channel resellers, IT integrators and technology consultants in North America.

The Nokia for Business Channel Program is designed to accelerate the widespread adoption of business mobility. The integrated program aims to create the industry’s most complete channel ecosystem for the design, deployment, sale and support of security and open mobility solutions worldwide. This year, Nokia adds operators and independent software vendors (ISVs) to the existing ecosystem of IT solution providers, opening up new opportunities for its growing community of partners to work together to deliver mobility solutions to businesses. Nokia also recently introduced new incentive programs designed to encourage collaboration between partners and to support their investments in broadening their technology expertise and expanding their customer base.

Of the hundreds of vendor program entries reviewed for this year’s guide, Nokia was one of only 10 Gold 5-Star Overall Winners chosen in this 14th annual VARBusiness Partner Programs Guide survey. Nokia was also certified a Silver 5-Star Winner in the Sales Support, Marketing Support, Communication and Partner Recruitment categories.

“The quality of a vendor’s partner program reflects the true commitment they have to the thriving Solution Provider Channel, and this year’s 5-Star Partner Programs Guide winners are the cream of the crop of Channel-friendly vendors,” said Robert C. DeMarzo, vice president and editorial director, CMP Channel.

“Businesses today have an opportunity to transform ad hoc mobility into competitive business advantage, and we are helping them make that transition,” said Joe Luciano, CEO, AccessIT. “By participating in the Nokia for Business Channel Program - which I believe is the model program for IT vendors - we are broadening our expertise in security and business mobility so that we can anticipate our customers’ needs in the face of this growing market.”

“Through the Nokia for Business Channel Program, we have been able to grow our business and help our customers stay competitive,” said Gordon Shevlin, executive vice president, FishNet Security, Inc. “We have received very good support from Nokia in our sales and marketing efforts such as events, and this support has helped us to be successful.”

“Nokia is at the heart of an active mobility ecosystem, in which various partners participate to deliver complete solutions to many of the challenges faced by businesses today,” said John Mason, vice president, channel and business development, Nokia. “By enabling linkages between our partners and offering incentives that encourage solution selling, we are bringing to life the concept of ’work together, smarter’ in the partner community. We believe this is a significant driver for the continued rapid adoption of mobility solutions by businesses and a source of outstanding opportunity for our partners.”

Nokia for Business Channel Program participants span the globe with more than 400 accredited channel partners in EMEA, more than 180 in the Americas and more than 80 in Asia-Pacific and Greater China. Additional information about the Nokia for Business Channel Program can be found online at www.nokiaforbusiness.com.

The guide appears in the March issue of VARBusiness and can be found online at www.channelweb.com.