Microsoft announces 2016 Partner of the Year Awards winners

Microsoft announced yesterday the winners and finalists of the 2016 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards, recognizing top Microsoft partners that have “demonstrated excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology”. This year, there have been more than 2,500 nominations submitted from 119 countries to be acknowledged in 37 categories including cloud technology, public sector, citizenship and more.

Among US winners, Blue Metal has been selected as the Internet of Things Partner of the Year after using Microsoft Azure, Power BI, and Microsoft Surface to help develop a cloud-connected refrigerator designed to improve vaccine storage. AvePoint Inc. has also been selected has the Government Partner of the Year for developing 6Degree.org, a new crowd funding platform built on Microsoft Azure that allows anyone to support survivors of human trafficking in a safe and secure way.

A complete list of winners and finalists is available on the Microsoft WPC Awards website, and all of them are also invited to an exclusive celebration during Microsoft 2016 Worldwide Partner Conference taking place July 10–14 in Toronto where they will meet with Microsoft executives. Gavriella Schuster, Microsoft General manager, Worldwide Partner Group, added :

It was evident this year that our partner ecosystem is maturing in its transformation. Many award winners found that embracing cloud technology was a spark for continued innovation and rapid growth. Microsoft’s cloud technology enables partners to develop creative applications, transform go-to-market, and deliver greater customer success.