HP Launches New Unit, Teams With Microsoft, Intel On Business Mobility

Hewlett-Packard has launched a new commercial mobility and software unit along with a tighter alliance with software giant Microsoft and chip giant Intel aimed at driving dramatic breakthroughs in the mobility market.

Michael Park, who was named just last month the vice president and general manager of HP's new Mobility and Software Business Personal Systems organization, said the business will have its own separate profit and loss statement along with dedicated resources aimed at capturing what is an explosive growth market opportunity for HP and its solution provider partners.

"This is a large-scale endeavor," said Park, who spent 8 years working on Cloud OS in Microsoft's Server and Tools Division and Microsoft Business Solutions before joining Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP a year ago. "We have got an entire organization running from field sales and partner management all the way back into R&D, development and product management that is now 100 percent focused on this opportunity."

[Related: HP Launches New Apollo High-Performance Computing Systems]

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HP is readying new products that will be rolled out in the fall, along with a new specialized channel certification program for HP and Microsoft partners. Furthermore, HP said it expects to launch new mobility partner program incentives of its own at the start its new fiscal year, Nov. 1.

HP is officially rolling out the new commercial mobility program at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington, D.C. this week.

HP, Intel and Microsoft have also all pledged to work together to provide a full suite of commercial mobility sales, marketing and resources for channel partners.

The tighter alliance with Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., and Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., comes only one month after HP CEO Meg Whitman held a roundtable session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich at HP's Discover conference. Whitman singled out the get-together as part of a rejuvenation of the 30-year relationship between the three companies and a "renewal" of partnership vows.

HP insiders said Whitman is doubling down on the Microsoft and Intel partnerships to drive major technology advances across a wide range of markets.

HP Executive Vice President Dion Weisler, who has radically transformed HP's printing and personal systems go to market strategy, established the separate business unit just one month ago after driving 12 percent sales growth for HP in the commercial PC market in the most recent quarter.

Park said he sees the move to separate the commercial mobility and software business into a separate organization combined with a much stronger alliance with Microsoft and Intel as a watershed event. He called the commercial mobility opportunity every bit as as big as the Internet transformation that caused widespread changes in businesses.

"Commercial mobility transformation is really that big," he said. "There is an opportunity to deliver all kinds of new ways to innovate for customers which is going to create lots of monetary value in the partner ecosystem."

Up until now, Park said, there has been a "void" in the commercial mobility market. "We are in the early stages of what is largely going to be a fairly substantiative transformation for how mobility changes the way people work," he said. "We want to be the first ones with a very specific commercial focus from enterprise all the way down to SMB."

Key to making that happen, said Park, is getting Intel, Microsoft, and HP all focused on delivering innovative commercial offerings in what the three are referring to as the Mobilize Your Business Program.

"We are focused on how mobility is transforming vertical industries and then looking at how we can bring the right combination of devices, accessories, software and services around those solutions and then help partners deliver them," he said. "This goes beyond driving a transaction to working with partners to help customers on a complete commercial mobility transformation."

HP is already working on major commercial vertical market mobility advancements with Intel and Microsoft including a health care-focused ElitePad Jacket that can be used in hospitals and clinics to deliver improved patient care, said Park. What's more, he said, HP is working on ruggedized Jackets for industries such as oil and gas.

NEXT: 'A Big Differentiator For HP'

Majdi "Mike" Daher, CEO of Denali Advanced Integration, Redmond, Wash., No. 91 on CRN's Solution Provider 500 list, credited HP's Weisler as an "innovator" who is moving HP from the sidelines to the playing field in the fast-growing mobility market.

"This is a big differentiator for HP," said Daher. "We don't see HP competitors making these kinds of bold moves. This new organization is operating like a startup that can do what is best for the business. This lets enterprise customers know that HP, Microsoft and Intel are going to look after the enterprise customer instead of just being consumer-focused."

That commercial mobility focus of all three companies will provide increased trust among customers and will greatly benefit partners like Denali which is building vertical market solutions, said Daher. "Now we can take these solutions to market and integrate them into our offerings into an enterprise commercial ready solutions backed by the greatest IT companies in the history of mankind: Microsoft, HP and Intel."

Denali is uniquely positioned given its status as both a Microsoft Gold partner and HP Platinum partner. "That puts us in a better position to capture the mobility opportunity," said Daher. "We are investing heavily in both our Microsoft and HP practices to capture the full commercial mobility software and services opportunity."

Park, for his part, said the partnership between HP, Microsoft and Intel will deliver much-needed advances for businesses to take full advantage of mobility revolution. "Consumers were first here, but the real business play is about to happen," he said. "Intel and Microsoft see that opportunity as well. You have got the No.1 company in the commercial personal systems business with HP, you have the No. 1 software provider and platform provider in Microsoft and the No. 1 chipset company in Intel all focused on making sure we are successful in commercial mobility in a unique and different way. It is integrated innovation that is driving this. It is the right partnership at the right time for the right opportunity for the right customer base. Between the three of us, I think we can really do some good work to help the channel ecosystem take advantage of this."

Park said his message to HP and Microsoft partners is: "We're coming. Get ready. This is transformative. It is going to be a great run together. Everyone is going to make a lot of money as long as we stay focused on the right customer experience. This is not about doing it the old way with a coin-operated 'sell the device' and walk away. The game here is how do you really engage and understand how mobility is changing the customer need and how do you deliver the combination of the device, software and services to meet that need."

PUBLISHED JULY 14, 2014