Acer, Fujitsu Siemens Giving HP, Dell A Run

HP's push to get channel partners to commit more of their resources to HP sales could benefit other hardware players in Europe, said Steve Raymund, chairman and CEO of Tech Data, Clearwater, Fla.

Partners have more vendor choice in Europe where Fujitsu Siemens, Acer, Toshiba and IBM/Lenovo are all strong, Raymund noted at the Raymond James IT Supply Chain Conference in New York on Tuesday.

"It's not a question of more margin, it's more a question of their emphasis [on] and commitment to the channel," Raymund said. "Acer doesn't even have the ability to take orders direct. They are not only channel friendly, but intrinsically channel dependent."

And Fujitsu Siemens, led by "pre-Carly" HP executives, "really understands the channel and runs through the channel and resellers like that," he said, referring to former HP Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina.

Bernd Bischoff, president and CEO of Fujitsu Siemens, joined thet Amsterdam-based company in 2001 after 21 years with HP. He had headed commercial customers and channels for HP's PC and printer business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Raymund noted that Tech Data retains close ties with HP, Palo Alto, Calif. "They're good listeners; they're a big company that plays in all markets. It's not easy to strike the right balance to compete with Dell in the etnerpirse with the needs of resellers. They are managing that balance today better than they have for the last five years."

"On the other hand, we're grownups and recognize that HP has other sets of priorities. It has to compete with Dell and others in large organizations and has to balance that with its need to attack other markets," he said.

"It'll be interesting to see if HP really starts selling more direct," he added.

Earlier at the conference, Dell CFO Jim Schneider acknowledged that hardware rivals have improved their own supply chain operations. "I believe our competitors have made progress on the cost side--I'm talking operating costs and cost of goods. Take Acer--their profitability actually declined and margins actually declined. People are very aggressive on selling prices to get some extra volume," Schneider said.

Raymund later noted that Dell's inherent advantage in that supply chain is "much less pronounced" in notebooks than it is in desktops.

He would not comment on Tech Data's year-old outsourcing pact with Dell or on whether it would continue. "They're still a great company, a powerful selling machine, they're still growing in double digits, they're formidable," Raymund said.