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The 2026 CRN Annual Report Card (ARC) shows how North American solution providers rate the IT vendors they work with across product innovation, support, partnership, and managed and cloud services. Its category scores offer a view of partner experience—not product-lab test results or a universal ranking of vendor quality.
What the 2026 ARC measures
CRN says the 2026 report marks the 41st year it invited solution providers to grade their IT vendor partners. The survey covers 23 product technology categories and evaluates vendors using 21 criteria grouped into four subcategories. The categories include established channel areas such as notebooks and mobile computers, networking, storage, and data recovery, as well as hybrid cloud infrastructure and consumption-based on-premises cloud services. Nine categories cover security technologies. CRN’s 2026 results article provides the category scope and scores.
The Channel Company describes the ARC as independent solution-provider surveys: “The Annual Report Card recognizes technology vendors that receive the highest marks from partners across the four areas solution providers value most: product innovation, support, partnership, and managed and cloud services.” See The Channel Company’s ARC process overview.
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- Product innovation: reliability, features, technical innovation, compatibility, and integration.
- Support: presales and post-sales assistance, training, field management, and marketing support.
- Partnership: partner programs, communication, channel conflict, revenue and profit potential, and ease of doing business.
- Managed and cloud services: subscription and consumption pricing, service-management integration, cloud readiness, field teaming, compensation alignment, and managed/cloud profit potential.
Selected 2026 category leaders
These examples show the range of categories in the report. Each score is the overall ARC score CRN reported for that vendor in the named category; the values are not directly comparable as head-to-head product ratings across unrelated categories.
#1 Best Overall
| Category | Reported leader | Overall score | Additional result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud computing: consumption-based on-premises cloud services | HPE | 85.5 | Led all four subcategories |
| Cloud computing: public cloud | Amazon Web Services | 82.5 | Google Cloud led support and partnership |
| Computing: CPUs | Intel | 88.2 | Nvidia led product innovation, support, and managed/cloud services |
| Computing: GPUs | Nvidia | 87.0 | — |
| Hybrid cloud infrastructure | Scale Computing | 91.4 | — |
| Security: cloud and application | Sophos | 89.5 | Led all four subcategories |
| Security: network security, SMB | WatchGuard | 92.8 | Led all four subcategories |
| Storage: SMB external storage hardware | Buffalo Technology | 93.2 | — |
CRN’s detailed results also show why an overall leader is not necessarily the leader on every partner concern: in public cloud, AWS led overall while Google Cloud led two subcategories; in CPUs, Intel led overall while Nvidia led three subcategories. In endpoint protection/extended detection and response, CRN reports that leadership varied across product innovation/support, partnership, and managed/cloud services. Review the full category tables in CRN’s detailed 2026 ARC results for the vendors and criteria relevant to your line card.
How to use the scores for vendor decisions
- Start with the right category. Compare vendors CRN evaluates in the same technology category; a storage score and a security score do not represent a head-to-head contest.
- Read the subcategory results. Decide whether product innovation, support, partnership, or managed/cloud services best reflects your business needs, then look beyond the overall score.
- Check the criteria behind the dimension. For example, a provider concerned with deal economics may focus on channel conflict, revenue and profit potential, or compensation alignment; a provider scaling cloud delivery may care more about service-management integration and cloud readiness.
- Treat the ARC as partner sentiment. Use it as one input into relationship and line-card reviews, alongside your own experience and the requirements of your customers. The scores alone do not establish market share, technical superiority, or why a vendor earned its result.
Who the survey represents
The Channel Company’s survey information describes participation by partners in North America and Canada. Its survey details page says participants register, provide a demographic profile, and access eligible categories through the ARC survey tool. The materials cited here do not establish a respondent count, so the reported scores should not be read as a census of all solution providers.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Rank #3
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