HP distributors urged to make own way into cloud

Vendor distribution boss claims partners are yet to come up with practicable cloud plans

HP has reassured distributors they have a role to play in the cloud, but has urged them to work out where they fit and make their own way in the nascent market.

The vendor has big plans to get more of its enterprise storage, server and networking (ESSN) resellers involved in cloud. Michael Bernhardt, HP's EMEA ESSN director of distribution sales, told ChannelWeb that the vendor's distributor partners are still working out where they fit in the world of cloud.

"It is a challenge for distributors, that is true," he said. "But we see that they are taking that challenge of how they can offer attractive solutions to the reseller channel. Distributors have realised that they have to engage [with cloud]."

The bigger players are more advanced, claimed Bernhardt, but few have implemented full-scale cloud offerings or business units. HP would back them all the way, he asserted, but distributors must come to their own conclusions about the best way to work in a cloud world.

"There is a role [for distributors in the cloud], but how that is defined is up to the distributors," he said. "We will push them to move in that direction – a certain percentage of their future revenue will come from cloud, without doubt.

"We see that most of the pan-European distributors have started to come up with plans. Some are ready to install, but little has been implemented or offered to the resellers at this time. We are willing to support them and offer whatever help we can, but it is more in the hands of the distributors."