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Cisco: HP-Microsoft alliance to desert channel

Networking giant claims Microsoft and HP tie-up will see both vendors taking more business direct

Proctor told channel partners that Microsoft and HP is “cutting you out of the equation"

HP and Microsoft are planning to take their unified communications business away from the channel, according to Don Proctor, senior vice-president of the voice technology group at Cisco Systems.

During his keynote speech at Cisco’s partner summit last week, Proctor told channel partners that Microsoft and HP’s unified communications alliance is “cutting you out of the equation".

Microsoft and HP recently announced a new alliance and promised to spend $180m (£114m) over the next four years to deliver end-to-end solutions combining Microsoft's Office Communications Server, Exchange and SharePoint portal software with HP's smartphones, servers, storage and switches.

Rob Lloyd, head of worldwide sales for Cisco, backed up his co-worker by saying: “Microsoft was saying for a year that the network did not matter and now they have a partnership with a networking provider. They picked the wrong partner.

“I found it interesting that Microsoft has found the network, but the HP alliance will lead to little value for unified communications for Microsoft.”