Hewlett-Packard still has work to do integrating its former PC and printing groups into one, but a slew of new products and initiatives in 2013 will make that easier, according to Herbert Koeck, vice president of the Printing Systems category, Printing and Personal Systems, Americas, for HP.

"We've been on an interesting journey this year," Koeck told a crowd of several hundred solution providers at Synnex's Varnex conference in Las Vegas Monday. "We're going to bring [the number of touch points within HP] down. There's still a long way to go for us."

HP's move to combine PCs and printers was a simple choice because both groups shared the same partners, same distribution networks and even the same supply chain in many cases, Koeck said.

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"But, HP was knocking on your door talking about printers and then later about PCs and servers. Later in the evening, someone was knocking to talk about networking in storage. We're looking to bring it together," Koeck said. "We have a unified PPS organization that is one face to our channel partners. At the same time, there's a lot still to come. You will see some synergies from a product category standpoint. There's no reason why this shouldn't be the most seamless experience possible."

Meanwhile, HP will continue its strategy of rewarding VARs for selling a wide variety of HP products and services into 2013. "Our clear focus is to team with strong partners like you to sell more into the SMB space, which definitely for the next five years is the fastest-growing customer segment. Faster than consumer, faster than enterprise," Koeck said.

During his keynote address at Varnex, Koeck highlighted the forthcoming ElitePad tablet for the commercial market as well as the HP Officejet Pro X Series, which is slated to launch in February 2013, as two products at which solution providers should take a closer look.

"The ElitePad is a real commercial tablet, something a lot of SMBs and customers have been looking for," he said.

Meanwhile, the Officejet Pro X Series is also designed for SMB and prints at twice the speed and half the cost of laser, Koeck said. "We will spend millions of dollars to support you [to sell Officejet Pro]. This is a great product that will change printing in the SMB space," Koeck said.

PUBLISHED NOV. 12, 2012