Dell names ANZ partner award winners as AI focus grows

Dell Technologies has named the winners of its FY26 ANZ Partner Awards, which recognise partners in Australia and New Zealand.

Six awards were presented across partner excellence, growth, artificial intelligence, alliance impact and individual achievement. Logicalis won the FY26 Partner Excellence Award for Australia, while Cyclone Computer Company took the New Zealand honour.

Infront Systems received the FY26 Growth Excellence Award for Australia and New Zealand. Xenon Systems won the FY26 AI Solutions Award, while Macquarie Cloud Services took the FY26 Global Alliance Impact Award.

The individual FY26 Partner Champion Award went to Chloe Zhang of Dicker Data Australia. The awards were presented at a dinner in Sydney attended by Dell executives and channel partners from across the region.

Programme changes

Alongside the awards, Dell executives outlined changes to the Partner Program 2026. Discussions focused on revised incentive structures for partners selling strategic offerings and expanding customer relationships, as well as the rollout of an AI-powered partner hub.

Dell is also simplifying partner engagement through streamlined deal registration, real-time pricing, demand insights and sales collaboration tools. It positioned those changes around the growing role of AI in the channel and broader customer demand for AI deployments.

The focus reflects a broader push by major technology suppliers to strengthen ties with resellers, integrators and service providers as businesses reassess infrastructure spending around data, cybersecurity, hybrid cloud and AI. In Australia and New Zealand, vendors have increasingly used partner programmes and annual awards to steer investment towards those priorities and reward firms that can attach services and consulting work to product sales.

For Dell, the regional awards serve both as recognition for existing partners and as a signal of where it wants its ecosystem to focus. The inclusion of a dedicated AI category and the emphasis on alliance impact point to the importance of specialist expertise and multi-party relationships as enterprise customers move from early AI testing to broader deployment.

Regional winners

The winner list also highlights the range of firms in Dell's regional channel. Logicalis is a large technology services and integration group with a strong enterprise footprint, while Cyclone Computer Company has a long-established presence in the New Zealand market.

Infront Systems has built its business around infrastructure, cloud and managed services, and Xenon Systems is known for data centre, AI and high-end computing projects. Macquarie Cloud Services brings cloud and managed services reach, while Dicker Data Australia remains a major distributor in the local technology market.

Several Dell executives from the region and wider Asia Pacific leadership took part in the awards presentation. They included Angela Fox, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand; Ravi Bharadwaj, Vice President, Partner Ecosystem, Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China; Michael Cole, Director, Systems Engineering and Head of Presales, Australia and New Zealand; and Lynn Nicol, Channel Sales Director, Australia and New Zealand.

Dell did not disclose the judging criteria in detail, but the categories suggest a mix of commercial performance, customer delivery and alignment with its current product and market priorities. Partner awards in the technology sector typically help vendors identify reference partners for target markets, including AI infrastructure, data management and cyber resilience.

Recognition of an individual champion alongside company-level awards also underlines the importance of sales and business unit leaders across the channel. Distributors in particular play a central role in vendor reach across Australia and New Zealand by supporting smaller resellers with financing, logistics, training and market access.

In a statement, Dell linked the awards to broader customer demand for IT modernisation and AI-related work across the region.

"This year's Partner Awards recognise the incredible role our partners continue to play in helping customers modernise IT environments, accelerate AI adoption and unlock new levels of performance across their organisations. Through the Dell Technologies Partner Program, our ecosystem is driving real customer outcomes across AI, hybrid cloud, cyber resilience and data transformation. These partnerships are central to how innovation is delivered at scale across Australia and New Zealand. We are proud to recognise partners who are driving transformation and helping shape the future of digital business in Australia and New Zealand," said Shant Soghomonian, Senior Director and General Manager, Partner Ecosystem, Australia and New Zealand, Dell Technologies.