Hewlett Packard Enterprise has put its Australian and New Zealand distribution out to tender, with industry insiders expecting a consolidation of the roster.
The vendor has one of the deepest lineups of distributors in the Australian market, something that can be a bone of contention among the members. The distributor panel includes Aruba's three distributors following HPE's acquisition of the networking vendor for US$2.7 billion in March 2015.
HPE has five distributors in Australia selling some or all of its range: Dicker Data, Ingram Micro, Synnex, Lynx Technologies and Avnet. Aruba adds another three disties to the mix, with key partners Westcon and Distribution Central, along with point-of-sale specialist Sektor.
Across the Tasman, Aruba's New Zealand distributors include Connector Systems, which was yesterday acquired by Ingram Micro.
HPE and Aruba distributors have been jostling for access to the full range of Hewlett Packard solutions, according to well-placed sources.
CRN understands all existing distributors were invited to take part in the closed tender, with submissions due on 18 January, followed by some post-submission activity.
Disties are now waiting to find out of who is in and who is out.
Asked to confirm the distribution tender, an HPE spokesperon would only say: "Hewlett Packard Enterprise was created to be a more nimble customer and partner-centric company. The company is committed to undertaking all efforts to ensure we can collectively deliver industry leading solutions and drive business transformation and growth for our customers in the most efficient way possible."
Rationalised roster
Industry sources expect the tender to lead to consolidation across the HPE and Aruba roster.
One source within the distribution community welcomed a rationalisation, telling CRN that it was hard to justify the major investment required to support a vendor of HPE's size while facing such competition from other disties. Any shakeup would have significant ramifications, given the size of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise business and its importance to distributors.
Dicker Data has long been regarded as HP's biggest Australian distributor, with the vendor worth upwards of a quarter of a billion dollars a year to the ASX-listed company.
Another distributor that comes in for praise among resellers is Sydney-headquartered Lynx Technologies, which tends to fly under the radar but represents a large slice of HPE's storage business.
Australia's only $2 billion-revenue distributors – Ingram Micro and Synnex – are also significant players, with Synnex the most recent HPE partner after adding the enterprise range to its existing agency for PCs and printers in August 2014.
Avnet is also an enterprise partner across HPE's infrastructure and software.
Some sources expect Aruba disties to do well out of the review, given the sway that the wireless vendor now holds within HPE's networking division. Networking in general and wireless in particular remain healthy, given a boost by the same transition to cloud that is putting pressure on compute and storage.
Aruba's regional leadership hold top positions within the merged business, from Asia-Pacific head Steve Wood, down to Australia and New Zealand managing director Steve Coad and ANZ channel manager David Elliott.
Next: partners judge HPE's channel strategy
The distribution review seems to have taken place without a local channel chief to steer the exercise. Kaaren Lewis departed HPE this week, though it now appears she had already been on "extended leave", according to a memo sent by Alan Hyde, VP of the Enterprise Group, South Pacific, to partner principals and seen by CRN.
Top partners for Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc have told CRN about some of the opportunities and challenges they see for HPE, and what they want from the vendor.
Resellers praised interim channel manager Nicholas Lambrou, who has stepped into the role following Lewis's departure. Lambrou is a familiar face within the HP channel, having been with the vendor since 2000.
John Schneider, owner of Computer Systems Australia, said he welcomed Lambrou as a channel manager and said that he should be made permanent. “He is very straightforward and is able to make commitments and sticks up to it.”
Schneider said CSA has been working with HPE since the early 1980s. He was concerned at a lack of focus since the company separated from printer and PC business, which is now operating as HP Inc (HPI).
“There needs to be more engagement and better presentation in what HPE’s key messages are,” said Schneider.
The boss of a major Sydney-based HPE and HPI partner, who asked not to be named, said the PCs and printers side was more solid than the enterprise organisation, which he said was struggling to hit sales targets.
"HP Inc seems to be much more on the ball, they have the management structure all the way from Dion [Weisler, CEO] at the top down."
"Their struggles with their number is because of that – they need the right people."
This unnamed partner principal praised Lambrou. "We ring him, he calls me back."
David Abouhaidar, strategic alliances and commercial sales director of AC3, formerly Klikon, also praised Lambrou. “I’ve worked with Nick for the last 13 years and he is extremely passionate, loves and supports the channel.”
Abouhaidar was optimistic about HPE's channel focus. “With the split now [complete], the enterprise can focus on the enterprise alone and this method is winning."
Somerville Group managing director Craig Somerville has been working with Hewlett Packard for the past 10 years. He praised Lambrou and believes that he has the right skills to do the role.
“We want a channel manager to work for the best for us and advocate for the partners within HPE. I work very well with HPE and I hope they keep producing good products to penetrate the market."
Johnson Hsiung, managing director of HP Inc distributor Bluechip Infotech, said it had been smooth sailing on the PCs and printers side. "We have always been dealing with the same people, before and after the [separation], so no change, which is good. We really don't have much connection with the enterprise side. Hewlett Packard Enterprise will have lot of pressure from cloud companies like Amazon Web Services."
An HPE spokesperson said: “HPE’s commitment to our channel partners is as strong as ever. This includes ensuring our industry leading partner program, Partner Ready, continues to deliver the value, resources and expertise partners have come to trust and expect from the company.”
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