Gloves are off as vendors battle for channel supremacy

Vendors have been locked in close combat throughout the year

Last year saw the gloves come off in a big way in the channel with a host of big-name vendors squaring up, but some industry onlookers have claimed the fracas could benefit the channel.

The year started with Microsoft and Google locking horns in the apps space and ended with Intel settling its long-running legal set-to with AMD by forking out $1.25bn (£780m). In between, security giant McAfee was made to cough up an extra $13.7m in its long-running patent feud with Finjan. The comms space was also enlivened by Avaya’s continued snipes at Cisco.

Turf war
But the year’s biggest vendor dust-up is the ongoing conflict between HP and Cisco, with both firms encroaching further into each other’s turf. HP upped the stakes by putting a lot more muscle into its ProCurve networking business, including the launch of its Open Network Ecosystem.

The programme saw ProCurve join forces with a glut of Cisco’s comms and security rivals. HP also put the cat among the pigeons with its $2.7bn purchase of networking vendor 3Com. Cisco, in turn, barged into HP’s traditional territory with the launch of its UCS range of servers.

s2s partners with both vendors. Managing director Scott Nursten claims the competition has been “great” for the marketplace.

“The whole thing just heated up a notch with the 3Com acquisition. The right thing for partners to do is not focus on the vendor, but on the customer. The vendors need to make sure they know where the market is going and build their products accordingly,” he adds.

Des Lekerman, managing director of HP and Cisco partner Eurodata Systems, claims the vendor fight for market share will affect product-focused firms most. He agrees the key is to stay focused on end users.

“HP is packing quite a big punch and is aggressive with its prices ­ Cisco is trying to compete,” he says. “Traditional resellers would play one off against the other, but the market is changing and they are dying out. We offer the customer the best solution for their requirements, regardless of price.”

Storm in a teacup
Greg Carlow, business development director at VAR Kelway, claims HP and Cisco’s conflict has been a storm in a teacup so far. “You get some bravado in comments made by individuals, but as yet, we are not seeing much competition in the market between the two,” he says.

Carlow notes that being caught between competing vendors is nothing new for resellers.

“Over a period of time when you are representing HP, Sun and IBM, you are going to have an account that is decided between the three and things can get a little robust,” he says. “But we go out of our way not to switch-sell or get involved in those things.”

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