HP Channel Chief Jones Gets New Job

Hewlett-Packard has promoted Americas channel chief Adrian Jones to a new post running HP's Enterprise Storage and Servers (ESS) business in Asia-Pacific and Japan, the company told Channelweb.com Monday. HP is actively searching for a replacement for Jones in its Solution Providers Organization (SPO) - Americas, an HP spokesperson said.

"Asia's a great opportunity for HP from a growth perspective," said Jones, who confirmed that he will assume his new duties on Nov. 1 at the conclusion of HP's fiscal fourth quarter.

"I love the channel, I really do," he added. "The channel partners have been awesome to do business with over here. I'll have responsibility for the channel over there too, just in a different part of the world."

Jones, whose wife is Japanese, said he initially will be based in Singapore for a few months before moving to permanent headquarters in Tokyo. He said one of his primary responsibilities in the region will be to integrate HP's ProCurve-led networking business into ESS, apparently a global strategy for HP as it takes on Cisco for supremacy in the network and in the data center.

Jones' duties as general manager of Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP's SPO - Americas will be assumed by Stephen DeWitt, Jones' current boss, and Tom LaRocca on an interim basis following Jones' transfer. DeWitt is vice president and general manager of HP's Personal Systems Group - Americas and LaRocca is vice president of marketing in the SPO - Americas.

The promotion of Jones happens in the context of HP giving its business units more control over its channel initiatives. For example, HP announced earlier this year that Frank Rauch, vice president of HP's Enterprise Solutions Partners Organization, would report directly to ESS bosses rather than to Jones.

In the past couple of weeks, HP also has changed the role of Randal Runk, senior vice president of U.S. sales for the company's Technology Solutions Group (TSG), so that instead of handling all U.S. sales, he now focuses on 250 high-end enterprise and global accounts. And HP also has instructed Rudi Schmickl, general manager of ESS in the Americas, to focus more on OEM sales.

"It's interesting that all of these moves are happening now. This is all a part of reshuffling as HP gets ready for its new fiscal year starting Nov. 1," said Mark Gonzalez, president of Nth Generation Computing, a San Diego-based solution provider and HP partner.

"HP is moving the channel responsibility into the business units so they have more control," said another source, who asked not to be named. "That leaves no overall uber-channel executive. The plus side of that is the channel leadership will be more focused, more engaged. The risk side is they lose the ability to coordinate overall."

Next: Partners Praise Jones