Hewlett-Packard Co. is consolidating all its partnership programs for system integrators, consultants, independent software vendors (ISVs) and resellers in the wake of its merger with Compaq Computer Corp., the company will announce Monday.
All the technical and business support programs will be brought together under the name PartnerOne, said Susan Reynolds, director of partner marketing for the Americas. PartnerOne will cover all types of partners, all regions of the world and all product and service lines of the merged company, she said. Some elements of the program are in place now and some will be rolled out in different regions over time.
HP gives its partners marketing help, such as product rebates that resellers can pass on to customers, and technical resources to help integrators build systems for customers and ISVs to develop software. Following HP’s acquisition of Compaq, completed earlier this year, the company had about 40 different partner programs spread across many product lines and partner types, said Carl Ramsey, the company’s partner program director. PartnerOne is intended to streamline that system, he said.
The consolidation will make things easier for some partners that act as resellers in some cases and as consultants or system integrators in others, according to Reynolds. Previously, those partners had to join two different programs, she said. At the same time, HP will expand the help it gives successful partners to include more planning assistance and investments such as co-sponsorship of customer seminars, she added.
The move also will save some ISVs money: Before the merger, Compaq charged US$600 per year to join its software developer partner program, according to Ramsey. Membership in PartnerOne is free.
Included in PartnerOne is the new Developer & Solution Partner Program (DSPP), an extension of the Compaq Solutions Alliance and the pre-merger HP developer portal. DSPP provides technical and business help to ISVs, system integrators and other developers. It is now available worldwide and being used by about 6,000 partners, Ramsey said. Also as part of PartnerOne, HP is consolidating its many pre-merger professional certification programs into the worldwide HP Certified Professional program.
The full PartnerOne program for all partners, including resellers, is in place already in the U.S. and Canada. It should be rolled out in Europe in the first quarter of 2003 and in other regions within the first half of 2003, he said.
