Westcoast boss lauds 'complex' world-record HPE Greenlake deal

Distie boss explains complexity of multimillion pound deal and who the ideal customer is

Working through HPE Greenlake's first UK deal was an incredibly complicated process, according to Westcoast MD Alex Tatham.

The multimillion pound deal is the largest globally for the solution, marking the first for the UK&I and the fourth overall.

The distie facilitated the deal with a UK partner, and the contract will span a period of 60 months.

HPE's Greenlake solution was launched last June.

It allows partners to sell on-premise infrastructure through a consumption model,meaning customers can increase and reduce their requirements as necessary.

The deal was not without its teething problems, according to Tatham, who said the complexity of the process was "significantly painful".

"Selling it through a two-tier channel is complex, and I've never seen anything like the paperwork involved," he told CRN.

"Clearly there is a lot of work to do to improve the process, but this is the first deal, and the second will be easier, and the one after that even easier again."

He added that although he believes the solution is available through other distributors, Westcoast was used to pilot the deal.

"HPE often uses Westcoast as a pilot because we are big enough and flexible enough to move as quickly as we can, whereas others will do it on a massive global business," he explained.

The solution is most suited to customers that are hybrid cloud users, according to Tatham, and he has seen great interest in it from customers, though they are often put off by the complicated nature of the process.

"There are customers who are extraordinarily interested in Greenlake, but then get a bit scared when the level of complexity creeps in," he said.

"Ideally, it suits a customer who wants their own kit and wants to make sure they control it and wants to spread the cost.

"It's useful for database customers, and also those who don't want to put it into a public cloud."