HP Shakes Up Mid-Range Channel
HP has shaken up its channel program for the mid-range by announcing the HP Integrated Partner (HIP) program. Under the new program, HP will stock and integrate all HP 9000 servers and HP SureStore E storage solutions from its Roosevelt, Calif. facility as of October 2. Solution providers will sign direct relationship contracts with HP instead of with distributors.
The HIP program also includes enhanced rebates and cooperative marketing funds for resellers, as well as a special "fee-for-service" partnership with its Partner Demand Managers (PDMs) -- Avnet Computer Marketing, Hall-Mark Division, and SBM, a subsidiary of Arrow North American Computer Products. These PDMs, in part, manage HP's relationship with HP authorized resellers.
The features of the new program include the following:
- New tiered discounts for resellers, via direct financial contract with HP, including a premium for reseller business derived from new customers of HP 9000 Enterprise Servers and HP SureStore E storage products
- A best-in-class program for top resellers that offers larger cooperative marketing dollars and rebates
- Access to HP products via direct shipment to resellers from HP
- Partner relationship management through HP's Web-based partner portal
- An updated reseller certification program that increases reseller sales territories
Calling the new HIP program "a radical departure from traditional channel models," Mike Long, president of Arrow North American Computer Products, said that SBM and HP collaborated for more than a year to design the design.
Geoffrey Lilien, president of Lilien Systems, an HP reseller, touted the program as a way of "improving consistency and availability of product delivery, especially the order fulfillment processes of non-PDM stocked products."