HP Shares Growth Strategies for Channel Partners at its Americas Partner Conference

HP shared its long-term growth strategies for channel partners – along with enhancements to the company’s flagship PartnerONE program and new products and services – during its Americas Partner Conference this week.

More than 1,000 HP partners from across the Americas have gathered in Las Vegas to hear from the company’s most senior leaders, including HP Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd and Channel Chief Adrian Jones, as they reaffirm HP’s commitment to the long-term success of its partner community.

“HP has been focused on the channel for nearly 30 years, and our commitment today to our partners is stronger than ever,” said Hurd. “We plan to accelerate our momentum in the marketplace by providing our partners with the programs, tools and resources that deliver real results.”

Following the conference kickoff, HP shared the latest PartnerONE program enhancements, unveiled a new set of “green” technology tools and resources for partners and introduced the latest entry-level storage solution for the midmarket.

PartnerONE program enhancements drive additional partner growth and compensation

The changes to HP’s PartnerONE program are designed to help drive additional growth and streamline compensation for partners. The enhancements reflect the company’s focus on the channel as a core component of its strategic approach to the marketplace.

“PartnerONE is a rich and diverse program that HP continually reviews and updates to reflect partner feedback and market trends,” said Adrian Jones, vice president and general manager, Solution Partners Organization – Americas, HP. “The latest program enhancements were created to offer even more rewards for partners driving new business growth, as well as to identify opportunities for partners to capitalize on new markets.”

New PartnerONE program enhancements and resources include:

* Storage Select Authorization – Designed to provide more partners with more growth opportunities, HP Storage Select is a new authorization that enables eligible partners to resell select storage solutions in the fast-growing midmarket space. The simplified authorization enables partners to sell the new HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array 4400 (EVA4400) and the entry-level EVA4X00 series products, software, services and options.
* New Upfront Benefits – Two new compensation offers reward partners with upfront benefits when they sell qualifying business-critical systems, enterprise storage and services from HP to net new customers or in sales into the commercial customer segment. Designed to further reward partners for new business growth, the New Business Opportunity (NBO) benefit gives partners greater visibility to applicable pricing and benefits during the negotiation and decision-making stages of new business deals and eliminates the need for backend claims for the offer. The new Commercial Target benefit provides new upfront benefits for sales into the commercial segment. Additionally, when partners use the new Technology Solutions Group Value Big Deal website, all requests for TSG products are submitted using a New Deal Registration Tool that combines NBO and Value Big Deals into one, streamlined process.
* Growth Accelerator – The Growth Accelerator offer first introduced in March 2007 has been expanded with new HP Services Growth Accelerator and DataCenter Growth Accelerator offers. The HP Services Growth Accelerator offer rewards partners with additional financial benefits when they meet and exceed services sales goals, while the DataCenter Growth Accelerator increases rebate payments for partners who carry multiple Elite designations.
* Green Expressway – A new set of “green” resources helps partners grow their businesses while helping end-user customers implement environmentally sound technology solutions. The Green Expressway on the HP Partner Portal provides partners with information specific to HP’s energy-efficiency programs, the latest environmental news, industry research and more. The site goes live on the portal this week.

New advanced virtual storage array benefits midsize customers

In related news, HP today introduced the HP StorageWorks 4400 Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA4400), an easy-to-manage virtual storage disk array that increases performance and availability to enable midsize businesses to drive revenue and reduce costs.

The EVA4400 is designed from the ground up to meet the needs of midsize customers who have similar capacity and performance requirements of an enterprise, but are limited by budget and resource constraints. Simple management and application-based solutions also are available with the EVA4400 and include pre-tested “blueprints” that combine the right server, storage and application components to reduce time and effort for customers and channel partners.

The EVA4400 rounds out HP’s entry-level solutions and gives channel partners new business opportunities with a virtual array designed specifically for the midmarket. Ideal for HP BladeSystem, HP ProLiant and HP Integrity servers, the EVA4400 provides customers a complete solution in which storage and servers are managed together. The benefits of a complete virtualized storage and server environment are realized on the bottom line as it effectively integrates the technology infrastructure and business applications.

The Americas Partners Conference also set the stage for a series of meetings designed to help HP and its partners align business strategies for optimal, profitable growth in 2008. Throughout the conference, partners will hear what the company is doing to help make it simpler, easier and more predictable to do business with HP. The conference will wrap up on Wednesday, Feb. 27.