HP SOFTWARE OLYMPIC: Focus On Telecom

HP’s second annual Software Olympics at Cheju Island in South Korea had it all–talks on improving business, a peek into HP’s achievements, awards for partners and fun galore. With a strategic focus on telecoms, the company revealed its interest in adding more partners who are telco focussed.

HP organized its second APac Software Olympics at the Cheju Island in South

Korea in a move to accelerate its channel strategy and strengthen its commitment

to channel partners.

"In this challenging business climate where it is imperative to offer

value-added solutions at competitive price points, our channel partners with

their domain expertise are crucial to our software strategy," says Steve

Au-Yeung, GM (Software Global Business Unit, Enterprise Systems Group)–APac,

HP. "In addition to increasing our investments in partner training and

marketing, we will adopt a solutions-centric approach with the long-term aim of

bringing profitability to our partners and value to our customers."

BIGGER AND BETTER



"It is perhaps the most closely-guarded secret in the IT

industry," joked Nora Denzel, Senior VP (Worldwide Software Global Business

Unit), HP. She was referring to the fact that HP´s software business grosses $

5 billion, which would place it as the fifth largest software provider in the

world, while addressing assembled partners. 

While America contributes almost 40 percent to this revenue, around 10

percent comes from APac and another 10 percent from Japan.

All this has been possible due to a very important role played by HP´s

worldwide channel network. Nearly half of the software revenue comes from

partners, who number nearly 1,000 worldwide. In addition, there are more than

2,000 certified consultants and 300 ISVs.

PARTNERS THROUGH THICK AND THIN



HP Software has two kinds of partners–business partners and premier

business partners. While the former are required to have at least one sales

professional and one technical consultant, premier partners should have two of

each.

Nora Denzel informs that HP´s  $ 5b software business makes it the fifth largest global software provider

To become a business partner, potential candidates need to work out a

business plan to demonstrate their capabilities in certain focus segments,

targeted solutions, sales forecast, marketing plan and dedicated resources which

will be committed.

The partner needs to maintain or have access to multiple-node, networked

environment for live demonstration of solutions. In addition, he should offer

first-level pre-sales support to customers.

Part of the partner´s business needs to be focussed on providing solutions

to manage customer IT infrastructure, like IT service management, NT-centric

management, management of Sun environments, integrated network and systems

management, storage management, e-business/e-commerce/e-services management,

application management (Sap/Baan/Peoplesoft), and XSP.

APAC IS THE PLACE TO BE



Interestingly, APac is the fastest growing market for HP. Last year, the

region grew between 40 to 50 percent. While globally channel partners contribute

almost 50 percent of HP´s software revenue, in APac, this proportion is set to

go up to 60 percent.

However, this increase will not be as a result of adding more partners.

Pointed out Au-Yeung, "We are not interested in the number of partners. We

are interested in the quality of partners."

Steve Au-Yeung stresses that partners with domain expertise are crucial to HP’s software strategy

On the other hand, due to a strategic focus on telcos, HP is certainly

interested in adding more partners who are telco focussed, according to Peter

van der Fluit, VP (Worldwide Software Global Business Unit), HP. While worldwide

the telco market declined last year, in APac, it actually showed a positive

growth.

India is amongst the top five countries in the region, while Australia,

China, Japan and Korea comprising the rest. HP’s partners in India include

Wipro Infotech, TCS, Network Solutions and Bangalore Labs.

OPENING SECRETS ABOUT OPENVIEW



Some more interesting and rather unknown facts about HP´s software business

came to light. HP OpenView is the 15th largest software provider. It is the

number one vendor in management software and voice middleware.

All the top 10 ISPs in the US are managed by OpenView and 70 percent of all

Internet devices are managed by it. Over 60 percent of service providers in

Asia/Pacific have deployed the software to manage their network environment.

Over 1.35 lakh OpenView installations exist worldwide, including 100 percent

of Fortune 50 and at least half of BusinessWeek International´s 100

corporations.

HERE COME THE WINNERS



With partners contributing majorly to its revenues in the region, HP used

the occasion to applaud the efforts of those who had performed best. Partners

who were awarded included Wipro Infotech from India, EMS from Australia, Digital

China from China, JOS Distribution from Hong Kong, Space ITS from South Korea,

HPD Systems from Malaysia, and Tech D&I Co from South East Asia (excluding

Malaysia and Singapore).

Says Vijaysunder Rajamani, Product Manager (Enterprise Management), Wipro

Infotech, "This recognition is a natural outcome of the deep practice built

by Wipro in its enterprise management offering, which reflects the commitment to

the technologies from HP. This recognition will enhance the value we bring to

the customer´s table."

Adds Au-Yeung, "In APac, we see strong growth opportunities in service

management, telecom solutions and Windows management."

HP plans to leverage the expertise of its system integrators to strengthen

the technical knowledge of its channel partners, in a bid to help them deepen

inroads in these growth sectors.

ASIM RAINA in Cheju Island/South Korea