FusionStorm recently received a Cisco Partner Summit Regional Award for Architecture. Cisco unveiled the winners April 11th at its Partner Summit in Honolulu.
"I had the honor and privilege of recognizing FusionStorm, as a Cisco Partner Summit regional award winner," said Wendy Bahr, vice president of U.S. and Canada channels at Cisco. “The Architecture award recognizes FusionStorm’s performance and success as a Cisco channel partner in 2007.”
Vince Conroy, CTO of FusionStorm, said, “This award validates our ability to deliver full data center capabilities around all Cisco technologies. Our data center practice helps companies optimize their data center as an IT ecosystem, delivering applications and services to users wherever they are located, with a high degree of reliability, consistency and security.”
Josh Krasnegor, VP of Marketing at FusionStorm, said, “This award is particularly relevant to us now as we embark upon our data center education series across the country. We are delivering our optimized data center message and talking about the greening of technology at special luncheons with our partners, including Cisco, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, Emerson Power/Liebet, VMware and Pano Logic.”
Cisco Partner Summit awards are presented at three levels — regional, theater and global. Cisco Partner Summit U.S. and Canada regional awards reflect a partner’s performance in a given geographic region of the U.S. or Canada.
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award – Finalist
John Varel, CEO and Founder of FusionStorm, is a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 Award in the Northern California. According to Ernst & Young LLP, the awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate extraordinary success in the areas of innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Varel was selected as a finalist from more than 90 nominations by a panel of independent judges.
John has had a successful and colorful career as an entrepreneur that has spanned more than 30 years. Prior to starting FusionStorm in 1994, he was co-founder of The Concorde Group, one of the largest resellers of Sun Microsystems refurbished hardware. He has also launched many successful syndications, including; Meris Laboratories, the largest physician-owned clinical laboratory in the nation, and Zephyr Park Ltd., one of the earliest wind-parks in Southern California.
John has also performed successful turnarounds in the manufacturing, broadcast and distribution industries. His passion for protecting the environment and concern for global warming has led him to consciously practice this lifestyle, by living off-grid on a sustainable farming plantation in Waihee, Maui, with his wife, Angie.