The ‘Business Partner of the Year’ award was given to Switch Communications, a specialist solutions provider for business telecommunications services and an Alcatel-Lucent premium business partner. Switch Communications picked up the award after securing a number of major deals, substantially investing in its business and expanding to new premises.
“Switch Communications has a rich history with Alcatel-Lucent covering some 16 years, and has developed an exciting and robust business that takes advantage of the full ALU portfolio,” said Andrew Terry, managing director at Switch. “We had a demanding year in 2007, which included an HQ relocation to offices in central Croydon, new staging and storage facilities in London, and securing accreditation for the Office of Government Commerce Catalist framework. Furthermore, we delivered numerous joint high profile Alcatel-Lucent solutions that contributed to a 25 percent growth in revenues. This investment will provide a solid foundation to exploit our potential for 2008, and we are honoured to be awarded with UK Business Partner of the Year.”
The ‘Data Partner of the Year’ award was presented to Khipu Networks, an advanced systems integrator and Alcatel-Lucent business partner of three years. Khipu was presented with the title after achieving strong growth, particularly in wireless data solutions within the education, government and healthcare sectors.
“With an increasing number of organisations looking to Wi-Fi to provide them with the flexibility they need, we're delighted that our efforts in winning new business and supporting our existing customers over the past twelve months have been recognised by Alcatel-Lucent," said Matt Ashman, commercial consultant at Khipu Networks. “Going forward, we will look to build on our Wi-Fi success by introducing new technologies to our customers that will allow them to benefit from features such as voice-over-WLANs, and hope to continue in our achievements in the vertical sectors with larger installations.”
In addition, Alcatel-Lucent has also awarded PFH Technology Group ‘Irish Partner of the Year’ in recognition of its continued success in the Irish market.
“This award is terrific recognition for the dedication of the whole PFH team, which works so diligently to ensure that clients get the very best solutions,” commented Paul Hourican, managing director of PFH. “It is also a testament to the great appetite there is for businesses in Ireland to look towards technology in order to gain a competitive edge, and to capitalise on solutions that provide measurable, bottom-line impact."
“Switch, Khipu and PFH have all had impressive results this year. Their ambition, understanding of the market, and commitment to Alcatel-Lucent is highly commendable, and the awards are a perfect opportunity to demonstrate our appreciation of their hard work," said David Parker, vice president for Alcatel-Lucent’s enterprise activities for UK & Ireland.