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As the one-year anniversary of Hewlett-Packard's Autonomy acquisition nears, HP has yet to begin selling Autonomy products through its channel partners, fueling frustration among the company's partner ranks.
HP partners are especially interested in Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer, a search and data processing technology that is built into many Autonomy products. IDOL, which also is available as a stand-alone server, analyzes streams of so-called unstructured data -- i.e., emails, voice, video and social media -- to identify patterns of meaning.
IDOL is considered the most strategic asset HP, Palo Alto, Calif., gained from its $10.3 billion acquisition of Autonomy last August. Yet as of today, not all HP partners are authorized to sell IDOL and other Autonomy products.
"The short answer is no: At this time, not every HP partner is authorized to sell Autonomy," Stephen Reny, senior vice president of market development for Autonomy, told CRN last week.
According to Reny, HP authorizes and enables partners to sell Autonomy based on their areas of technology expertise and focus. This measured approach, he said, ensures that customers receive a top-notch support experience and helps HP match the right partners with the appropriate Autonomy products.
"We absolutely plan to expand our partner base but we need to do this sensibly -- by evaluating which partners are right for which solutions," Reny told CRN.
[Related: HP Shuffles Autonomy Leadership, Departed Execs Cite Stifling Bureaucracy]
Still, even partners that have obtained authorization to sell Autonomy say HP has not provided the necessary sales, support and implementation training to get them up to speed. And without this sort of enablement, partners say they're stuck in a holding pattern with Autonomy, fielding customer inquiries but unable to turn these into sales.
"We are authorized to sell Autonomy and are committed to getting enabled, but we are looking for some direction on the enablement piece," said Brandon Harris, vice president of HP Solutions at Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Logicalis, one of HP's largest North American enterprise partners, in an interview last week.
One HP partner with a burgeoning big data practice told CRN he isn't being granted full access to Autonomy's portfolio, which he finds puzzling since HP executives spent the first few months of the year touting IDOL as a game-changer in the space.
"We want to represent the solutions that Autonomy brings, but HP is not allowing partners to sign business development agreements featuring all of the Autonomy solution sets," said the solution provider, who is one of HP's top Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN) partners. "I thought we would be able to sell Autonomy by now."
NEXT: HP Going Back To Drawing Board With Autonomy?
