Cisco Ends HP Channel Relationship
So much for competing and cooperating. Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard are officially full-time competitors. According to a blog entry and video post from Cisco Channel Chief Keith Goodwin, Cisco “recently notified HP that we will not renew its System Integrator contract when it expires on April 30, 2010, resulting in HP no longer being a Cisco Certified Channel or Global Service Alliance partner.” Here’s the scoop.
According to a Feb. 18 blog post on Cisco’s Web site, Goodwin states:
“Over the last few years our relationship with HP has evolved from a partner to companies with different and conflicting visions of how to deliver value to customers. Despite this shift in industry dynamics, HP had remained a Cisco Certified Channel Partner. Being a Cisco Certified Channel Partner has numerous benefits including access to proprietary information (such as product roadmaps) and partner profitability initiatives. Given the evolution of our relationship it simply no longer makes sense to provide these benefits to HP.”
Goodwin made the statement as part of the following video posted on the Cisco web site:
The battle doesn’t end online. Cisco Partner Summit 2010 and the Hewlett-Packard Americas Partner Conference are set for the same week in April 2010.
In case you haven’t been keeping score, Cisco declared war on HP in June 2009. By July 2009, Cisco clarified an alleged price war with HP. By September 2009, HP was showing love to partners that successfully sold against Cisco. And HP’s recent 3Com buyout was largely viewed as a counter move to Cisco.
Still, Cisco’s Goodwin is quick to note that Cisco will continue to work with HP on mutual customer matters. In the video, Goodwin states:
“As such we have already reached out to HP to begin the discussion around a new agreement that ensures business continuity for existing customers and better reflects the current state of our relationship. We will also honor Cisco customer service contracts with HP for their duration.
Our commitment is clear: we will continue to work with HP wherever our customers expect it and where it makes sense for our business.”
The VAR Guy has reached out to Hewlett-Packard for comment.
Var Guy: Get some sleep. You’ve earned it with this one. And thanks for that advice from a month ago. It all worked out very well. We signed up and made our first sale in 15 days.
Frankie
Frankie: Sorry for the belated reply. Happy that advice worked out. Did you make any margin on the sale???
-TVG
3rd Party fo HP Support
I am considering a 3rd party provider for HP Server support. HP claims that only Channel parnters have eacces to d/l updates and patches. How can a verify of a reseller is a channel partner?
Thx
David
David: The VAR Guy is checking in with HP to see if he can get you the answer. Please stay tuned.
-TVG