HP Taps Channel For New Security Bundle

The offerings, which HP calls Opportunity Zones, are bundled vertical solutions that will be offered exclusively through solution providers and won't be available through HP direct, said Kevin Gilroy, HP's vice president and general manager, North America commercial channels. "We've made HP direct aware that these [Opportunity Zone] solutions are the sole purview of the channel," he said.

The first bundle is a security solution developed with Network Associates. Gilroy said that initially, 12 solution providers have been selected to participate in the Network Associates solution. Solution packages offered in alliance with other software vendors are in the works, he added.

"We have two or three more in the pipeline," Gilroy said. "Upstream [in the enterprise space] you see a lot of alliances between HP and Oracle or HP and SAP, but downstream you don't see it as much. It's critical for this industry going forward to strike more alliances [targeted at the small- and midsize-business markets]."

The initial security solution bundles Network Associates' McAfee Active Virus Scan Suite and Active Client Service Suite with HP ProLiant servers to assess and implement security for small businesses. "If you look at where the [IT] dollars are going to be spent this year, they are going to be spent in the 100-to-1000-employee company range," said Mike Menegay, senior vice president of distribution and channels, North America at Network Associates. "Those customers are screaming for credible solutions centered around security."

Solution providers welcomed HP's efforts to energize the small- and midsize-business markets but said they are anxious for more vertically oriented solutions from the vendor. "HP seems to be looking where the light is good," said Bruce Campbell, marketing director at Clare Computer Solutions, San Ramon, Calif.

Clare already sells Network Associates software and HP hardware and offers security solutions of its own, but Campbell said he is interested in vertical solution bundles that can take the company into new markets.

"The combination of Network Associates and HP working with a select set of specially trained dealers lends credibility to the market," said John Iaccarino, senior vice president at Real Time Consultants, a Mahwah, N.J., solution provider. "We've been a Compaq solution provider for about 12 years, and it makes me happy to see that HP is trying to work with the channel."