In
a move designed to help channel partners take advantage of growing
opportunities in the midmarket, HP Networking
is expanding its PartnerONE and ExpertONE channel programs, as well as updating
its legacy networking solutions in an effort to win market share from
networking competitor Cisco.
As
it moves to more closely align itself with its partners and provide up to
double-margin potential, the vendor is expanding its PartnerONE program by
launching a Professional Networking Specialist tier for smaller partners. HP is
also rebranding its Advanced Networking Elite designation as Advanced
Networking Specialist. That tier is for partners that have made a more
significant commitment to certification and sales of HP’s networking solutions,
and it provides greater margin opportunities for such partners.
“Today,
we get 90 percent of our revenue from channel partners, and what we’re seeing
is a big opportunity to grow our presence in the midmarket, so we’ve added a
new level to our PartnerONE program, which is the Professional Networking
Specialist level,” said Michael Banic, vice president of global marketing for
HP Networking. “That complements the Advanced Networking Specialist, which is
renamed from the Advanced Networking Elite, which has been in place for a while.”
The
new designations were created in response to partner feedback. According to
Armughan Ahmad, vice president of Americas channel strategy and alliance sales
for HP Networking, the new lower level of the partner program makes it simpler
for smaller solution providers to get access to sales and technical training on
HP’s networking products. Aimed at partners with between $100,000 and $200,000
in annual HP networking sales per year, the program will provide access to HP
networking program benefits they didn’t have access to before, he said.
For
partners that fit within the Professional Networking Specialist requirements,
they’ll find additional opportunities for profitability, Ahmad said.
Previously, partners with under $200,000 of annual HP networking revenue could
only participate in HP’s general partner programs, but the changes bring them
into the networking fold.
HP
is also addressing training and talent requirements with changes to ExpertONE.
“We
have a lot of new opportunities for ExpertONE,” Banic said. “We have a new set
of educational programs centered around our FlexNetwork architecture. We have
also just released a solution training partner program where we can enable
partners who have education as a focused part of their business.” The goal is
to increase the number of certified individuals, he added.
HP
recently launched ExpertONE certifications around cloud
integration and architecture as part of its converged infrastructure
certification program. It also announced HP Institute and HP Press to give IT
professionals access to curriculums delivered as two- and four-semester
academic programs or self-directed programs.
“The
last big piece of the news we’re rolling out is the expansion of our Catalyst
for Change program. We launched that a year ago, and it was primarily focused
on the $9 billion of end-of-life products from Cisco Systems for customers
looking for something different,” Banic said.
The
trade-in program, which offers up to 20 percent savings off the list price of
HP switches when trading in competing products, will continue through 2012.
Hewlett-Packard 
