HPE triples GreenLake business going through the channel

Overall sales drop nine per cent year on year

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) tripled the amount of GreenLake business it put through the channel in its Q4, the vendor revealed in its quarterly earnings.

HPE launched its as-a-service offering in the channel last year, before making it available to mid-market resellers at its Las Vegas partner event in June as part of its pledge to offer all its solutions through the model by 2022.

Speaking on an earnings call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, HPE CEO Antonio Neri said total GreenLake orders were up 39 per cent in the quarter.

"HPE GreenLake continues to be one of our fastest-growing businesses," he said.

"Our ability to deliver a consistent cloud-like experience on and off-premise as a service with HPE GreenLake is a key competitive advantage for HPE.

"We saw over 200 per cent GreenLake order growth year over year in the channel. Our partners are an important extension of our own sales and technical teams, and they are a powerful force in driving growth."

During the quarter ending 31 October 2019 HPE saw overall sales fall nine per cent to $7.2bn (£5.6bn).

Revenue was down two per cent excluding the low-margin tier-one server business, which HPE is in the process of exiting, and Neri highlighted that the vendor's sales have been "stable" over the past three quarters.

He also said that the macro economy had an impact on business during the quarter, as it had earlier in the year.

"Ongoing global trade tensions and other geopolitical factors have created uncertainty that contributes to an uneven demand environment," he said.

"The elongation of sales cycles we experienced since Q2 continues, particularly in larger deals. But against this backdrop, we are confident we have the right strategy that anticipates our customer needs."

Neri added that the second-half slowdown has been "more driven by the tariff situation", which has caused longer sales cycles, claiming that large enterprises in particular are delaying their spending.

HPE execs also said that the vendor would not be starting a new cost-cutting initiative in response to declining revenue, claiming to be "super pleased" with the current HPE Next scheme.