/> The ‘EMEA Channel Academy: 2011 Awards’, held in conjunction with the DISTREE XXL channel conference, celebrate excellence in IT distribution. Hundreds of distributors from across EMEA nominated their preferred vendors in ten different product categories, including EMEA Components Vendor of the Year. The top five vendors per category then went through to a live final vote, which took place at the Salle des Etoiles in Monaco on February 10th, 2011. Approximately 800 senior channel executives from across EMEA attended the event. Hundreds of distributors voted, based on an open and transparent voting system, recognising true channel excellence in the region.

“The five nominees for ‘EMEA Components Vendor of the Year’ were AMD, Asus, Gigabyte, Intel and WD. AMD picked up this year’s award with an impressive 46% of the live vote,” said Farouk Hemraj, CEO at DISTREE Events. “I would like to congratulate all of this year’s vendor winners. Having the support of the distribution community is a vital part of a successful go-to-market strategy in the EMEA region.”

“We are thrilled to receive this prestigious award recognising our complete dedication and commitment to the channel,” said Darren Grasby, corporate vice president, Sales, EMEA. “2010 has been a great year for AMD and it’s never been a better time to be an AMD partner. The recent launch of the AMD Fusion Family of APUs, designed to transform the computing experience of end users, highlights AMD’s ability to provide innovative technology you can trust. This accolade from our peers and the very channel partners we serve highlights that our commitment is well-placed.”

In addition, AMD also received the Best Hardware Vendor Award 2010 from the well-known IDG German gaming publications, GamePro & GameStar, at an event in Munich, Germany. Readers and users of the publications voted on the best hardware vendors, with more than 50,000 readers participating in the online vote.

“To ensure that the vote is as independent as possible, GameStar did not nominate vendors beforehand. The fact that AMD was the first vendor to bring DirectX 11-capable graphic cards to the market and the excellent price performance ratio of the AMD Phenom™ II processors were undoubtedly decisive factors for the readers to vote AMD Best Hardware Vendor 2010” said Daniel Visarius, Senior Editor Hardware, GameStar.