HP is set to plough a further $90m of funding into its UK and Ireland channel during 2008 to ensure it stays at the top of its game.

The vendor, which has beaten Dell to the number-one spot in the PC market for two years running (CRN Online, 17 January), recently posted positive first-quarter 2008 results, with turnover up 13 per cent to $28.5bn and profit rocketing 42 per cent to $2.6bn.

Dave Poskett, director of Solutions Partner Organisation for the UK and Ireland at HP, said: “All the business units have been very strong. “This extra investment will bring the total invested by HP into the UK and Ireland channel this year to $240m. This is an endorsement of the success that partners bring to us and a reflection of the value add that they bring to HP.”

Poskett said the money would be used for various marketing activities in the channel and ploughed into HP’s various partner offerings under its Smart Suite, including Smart Leads and Smart Quotes.
“We want to invest in the partners that invest in HP and really promote HP as a one-stop shop for all [a company’s] IT needs,” Poskett added.

Paul Barlow, director of coverage customer unit at Computacenter, welcomed the investment.
“HP is working hard with the channel, which is great. Any investment is always welcome,” he said.

Last week, 200 partners attended the vendor’s UK channel event.
“Part of the conference was to say we have been partnering for 25 years and to stress the channel is a cornerstone of what we do,” said Poskett.