What the HP-Compaq Merger Has Meant To Partners: John Gunn

Since the merger, have HP-Compaq sales increased, decreased or stayed the same?
"Our HP sales have gone up due to the HP Referral Program in the past 12 months. We did $16 million last year with HP and Compaq, and we expect to do the same amount this year as well."

Is HP more, or less, competitive in your core businesses?
"We are finding HP to be more price-competitive in some areas, especially when it comes to opportunities of displacing Dell workstations or servers."

How has your company been impacted by the merger?
"I thought the merger was going to be a disaster. We didn't have a good relationship with HP, and I felt that Compaq was more channel-friendly. I was probably one of the few people who felt that way. [But] there are a lot of positives we receive as a Gold Partner...The negatives include the lowering of Agent and Referral Program fees. I took a $180,000 hit. It's been difficult dealing with the merger of two different channel cultures; there've been some mixed signals on if they want us to go through distribution vs. Referral Programs. There's also less focus on small and medium business programs."