Solution Providers Still Selling Compaq, HP As Shareholders Vote

Hewlett-Packard Compaq Computer

"The products are here, they're reliable and proven," said Barry Malter, president and CEO of Advantage Technologies, a New York solution provider that sells products from both vendors.

Malter expects little impact to his business whether the merger goes through or not.

"They each in their own right have issues and problems, and together they would have issues," Malter said.

The issues surrounding the merged company include a variety of questions solution providers are waiting to have answered.

"If the merger happens, what does that mean for warranty issues with products, whose product line will win out, what's the quality of the new product line going to be? Those are the questions people like myself are asking," said Louis Novakis, practice manager at Continental Resources, a Bedford, Mass.-based solution provider that works with HP and Compaq.

Despite the anticipated confusion if the merger goes through, Continental Resources is not pushing other vendors' products as alternatives because it expects those questions to be answered quickly, Novakis said.

"Ninety percent of the data centers we walk into are Compaq servers right now," Novakis said. "There's no way 90 percent of our customer base is going to throw their Compaq servers out the door to go with IBM or Dell."

While Continental Resources' clients have voiced mixed opinions on the proposed merger, they have not shied away from purchasing products from either vendor, Novakis said.

If shareholders strike down the merger plans, Novakis said he expects business to continue as usual for both HP and Compaq.

HP shareholders convened here Tuesday morning to cast their ballots on the proposed $22 billion deal.