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Since moving into the new facility in January, Computex's sales of HP gear, which is featured in the solutions lab, are soaring, said Sam Haffar, president and co-CEO with his brother, Jason, of the Houston-based solution provider. Haffar said he expects Computex's HP product sales to jump to $20 million this year, up from $15 million in 2005.

The company's new solutions lab, which features more than a million dollars in hardware and software, is a selling tool in nine out of 10 sales, Haffar said.

Computex will up the ante this week when it brings eight of its top customers to HP's Storage Conference for a strategic drilldown on storage strategy with HP executives.

In May alone, Computex sold $2.2 million in HP gear, Haffar said. Those sales included a $440,000 SAN deal with an engineering firm that had been a Dell customer. Computex moved six Dell customers over to HP solutions in the past six months, he said.

A big factor in beating Dell and other vendors, Haffar said, is the new 10,000-square-foot facility—more than double the size of the former headquarters. The facility has a technical conference center that overlooks the solutions lab where Computex's technical team shows off everything from HP SANs and Blade systems to Symantec backup and security products, VMware virtualization software and CommVault data management solutions.

Haffar said the facility not only showcases the company's technical prowess, but also enhances its credibility as an enterprise-class solution provider. "Customers walking through here feel good about Computex, and the fact that we have been in business for 19 years solidifies how successful we are," he said. "Customers are very impressed when they meet our engineers."

Those engineers go into the field to install and fine-tune complex solutions such as disaster recovery with replication software. "These engineers are not presales guys doing a demonstration," he said. "Dell can't provide the same level of service we do."

Haffar said Computex's sales have benefited from HP President and CEO Mark Hurd's move to "double down" on the most loyal HP partners. "It's a better solution when we attach HP services and peripherals," Haffar said. "It's great to see HP rewarding us for our efforts."

Computex works closely with HP's direct sales force. The new facility even has dedicated partner desks where HP reps can plug in. "They use our office as a landing zone," Haffar said. "We see the investment that HP is making in the channel. Over the years, that has paid off for us."