SAP AG and Compaq Corp. further entrenched their existing e-business dealings by announcing a strategic alliance on Wednesday.
Under terms of the agreement, the companies will jointly offer SAP’s portal solutions and Compaq’s hardware products and services. Also, Compaq will establish solution centres to support the partners’ business objectives and sales activities, with the first to be opened in Walldorf, Germany.
Given that Compaq is already a SAP platform, server and storage partner, one analyst says the deal is hardly groundbreaking.
“It’s really not a big deal in the sense that this is something one would expect coming out of them, given they’ve had a long-term relationship. They’re extending their reseller agreement,” said Warren Shiau, a software analyst at IDC Canada in Toronto.
As a SAP portal partner, Compaq will become a SAP software reseller, while SAP will in turn push Compaq’s hardware products. But what could be of added interest to Compaq is the potential of extending its reach into a market its rival currently dominates.
“They (Compaq) want services revenue. They want to be like IBM with Global Services. (And) the more avenues they have to sell services in addition to hardware, the better,” he said.
IDC Canada in Toronto can be reached at http://www.idc.ca
Compaq Canada in Toronto can be reached at http://www.compaq.ca
SAP Canada in Toronto can be reached at http://www.sap.ca
