The finalists for the European IT Excellence Awards - the leading pan-European awards event for IT and Telecoms channels - have been named by IT Europa. A total of 51 companies from 16 countries have made the finals, and the winners will be announced at the European IT Excellence 2010 Awards Dinner at The Tower Hotel, London on 25th February 2010.

The European IT Excellence Awards are the first pan-European awards which recognise the role that Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Solution Providers play in the delivery of real world solutions, and attracted entries from more than 26 countries.

Entries were submitted by ISVs, Systems Integrators and VARs describing the solution provided. Each entry had to be supported by an endorsement by the client.

"The quality of entries was extremely high and demonstrated the depth of talent in the channel community across Europe," stated Alan Norman, Managing Director of IT Europa. "Finalists have come from right across Europe with Central and Eastern European countries well represented."

John Chapman, Editorial Director at IT Europa, added: "The judges were impressed with the quality of all the entries and the obvious work that had gone into preparing them.

"What was so exciting and uplifting was the real skill and ingenuity shown by the channel in many of the solutions. Our judges have a lot of experience in the IT industry and of sitting on such judging panels, so to have such comments as ‘I was blown away with what that company has achieved' and ‘fantastic solution and amazing results' from them was incredible to hear."

The awards categories are divided into two main groups: ISVs and Solution Providers. The ISV categories are for software-based solutions for which the ISV has written the bulk of the solution itself. The Solution Provider categories are for complete solutions that include hardware, software, communications and services. As well as the channel categories there are three supplier categories where channel companies nominate their distributor, service provider or vendor for the support they provide through their channel programs.

Chapman added: "The entries in the categories for suppliers, showed that these companies have been putting a tremendous amount of effort into their channel development activities, particularly during the tough economic climate experienced in 2009.

"The entries detailed the sales and marketing activities undertaken in partnership with the supplier and showed the results as far as new business development and market penetration."

Click here to view the finalists

www.iteawards.com