Channel-Lands Watches Partner Discontent, Emergence of New Competition

Is any partner ever really satisfied with their vendor? Perhaps it’s an unfair question, since partner sentiment is shifted by events and circumstances. But a growing chorus of channel partners is raising its voice of discontent with Hewlett-Packard, calling into question new CEO Leo Apotheker’s channel commitment. And that’s just part of what’s happening across the Channel-Lands this week. We’re also watching the rise of Chinese competition, the setting of business goals in 2011, and a big change for one high profile channel leader.

VARs Questioning HP’s Channel Direction

Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker hasn’t had an easy time acclimating to his new job. Less than three months into the role, he’s had to defend his commitment to the channel, dodge a subpoena to appear in the Oracle-SAP corporate espionage trial and assuage Wall Street concerns over the company’s direction. No easy task for any one person, much less a person like Apotheker who was thrust into the job.

Now Apotheker has a new, emerging channel problem: partner discontent.

TechTarget’s Search IT Channel published an expose this week recounting numerous HP partners’ rising concerns over the direction of the company. Several VARs quoted in the piece cited HP’s lack of leadership, continued emphasis on cost-cutting and its foggy roadmap as reasons for concern. At the heart of the concern? You guessed it – Apotheker.

Apotheker came to HP as an executive on hiatus. He previously served as CEO of software giant and Oracle rival SAP, but had to resign after nine months in the post amid rising customer dissatisfaction. He is considered a seasoned and well-reasoned executive, but his pedigree in direct sales concerns partners.

Many partners in the TechTarget story recall with affection the relationship they had with former CEO Mark Hurd. They recounted how Hurd would visit their offices, take their calls and personally answer emails. Many said they have not had the same experience with Apotheker.

HP also is dealing with the integration of 3Com and 3PAR into the PartnerOne program. HP channel chief Stephen DiFranco says the assimilation has been challenging since both organizations had a direct sales focus.

Ironically, while TechTarget was reporting on partner disenfranchisement with HP, CRN was offering a rationale for why HP should buy SAP – a direct sales vendor. CRN argued that HP needs business software as part of its portfolio, SAP is cheap to acquire compared to Oracle, it would give it a better competitive positioning against Oracle, and, of course, Apotheker knows the organization.

China’s Rising Tech Competitiveness

During last month’s earnings call, Cisco CEO John Chambers cited emerging competition from China as one of the biggest threats to the networking giant’s business. That threat took on a visible form this week as Huawei Symantec Technologies announced its foray into the North America market with network security and storage appliances.

Huawei Symantec Technologies is a joint venture formed between Chinese OEM Huawei and U.S.-based security and storage software maker Symantec. Symantec put up $150 million in cash and Huawei put up the manufacturing and human resources to build network appliances. The company has roughly $2.3 billion in revenue in Asia, and is looking to replicate its success in the North America market.

It’s Huawei Symantec Technologies’ strong foothold in Asia that makes it a notable competitor and potential threat to Cisco, Juniper, EMC, NetApp, HP and other hardware vendors. But it’s not the only one. Lenovo has long produced network gear and appliances in its home China market, and has flirted with bringing some of those products to the North America market.

China has the world’s second largest economy and the fastest economic growth rate in the world, but its internal consumption of goods and services is relatively small compared to the U.S., Europe and Japan. The ignition of the domestic economy undoubtedly will spark more homegrown technology companies that will make their way to the global stage. When they do, they will create new competition for existing vendors and new opportunities for partners.

Setting Business Goals for 2011

As 2010 comes to a close, every business in the channel should be focused on setting and achieving their goals in the coming year. Our friends at Phone Plus Magazine asked their readers what their business goals are for the coming year.

Dale Bohannon, president of IP Distribution Systems said his goal is not losing a single client and growing billings by $500,000.

Mark Solomon, president of Global Systems Telecom, is setting growth targets of 20 to 30 percent revenue growth, and part of that increase is coming from the addition of energy management services.

And David Gardner, president and CEO of Advantage Communications Group, is looking to diversify his company’s offerings through the addition of new software tools and service delivery models.

What are your goals for 2011? Share your thoughts with the Channel-Lands by emailing me at lmwalsh@the2112group.com.

N-Able, Level Platforms Getting Powerful with Eaton

N-Able Technologies and Level Platforms, two of the best known remote monitoring and management tools makers, are teaming up with Eaton to give solution and managed service providers the ability to monitor and manage uninterruptible power systems (UPS).

As quoted by Channel Insider, Level Platforms CEO Peter Sandiford said, “"UPS monitoring and management are important services for MSPs as any failure here could have negative results. Our collaboration with Eaton will allow MSPs to add a new high-value offering to their customers."

From an outside perspective, it looks as though Eaton is looking to tap the broad and lucrative MSP marketplace. At the same time, the partnership will likely give N-Able and Level Platform users an interesting and unique feature to offer Eaton UPS customers.

Cisco, NetApp Remove Complexity with FlexPod

Mid-market and enterprise customers increasingly are virtualizing their data centers. Building the architectures for high-performance data center switching, routing and storage isn’t easy, despite the wonders of virtualization. That’s why Cisco and NetApp teamed up to create FlexPod for VMware, a predesigned and certified set of switching and storage architectures designed to take away the cost and difficulty of selecting and integrating data center solutions.

The notion of removing complexity is interesting. As NetApp global channel chief Julie Parrish said in Channelnomics, ““Partners don’t have to try two and three times to get the product and integration right.” But it does raise questions about whether partners can effectively differentiate themselves if they’re selling pre-packed solutions. Check out the reaction in the blog’s comments.

Autodesk Founder and CEO Bob Godgart Steps Aside

And finally, a tip of the hat to Autodesk founder Bob Godgart who today is stepping down as chief executive officer to pursue his entrepreneurial passions. He’s turning the CEO reins over to Mark Cattini, a software industry veteran. Godgart will assume the role of chairman and “chief visionary officer,” responsible for identifying and guiding the strategic direction of the IT automation company. In an interview today, Godgart said he wants to pursue his passions for building a business and engaging with the channel community, and he only can do that by turning over day-to-day management to an experienced and capable leader. Channel-Lands wishes Godgart and Cattini the best of luck.

Well, that’s all the week’s news from Channel-Lands where all the technology works, all the deals are profitable and all of the companies are above average. If you want to follow me on Facebook or Twitter, feel free to connect. Share your suggestions and news with me at lmwalsh@the2112group.com.