Slide Show: HP's Extreme Partner Conference

HP welcomed some 1,100 solution provider executives to Las Vegas' Caesar's Palace for a three-day gala that featured lots of in the trenches sales talk, roundtables with HP executives, including CEO Mark Hurd, and a party to close it all out that featured nine-time Grammy award-winning artist Sheryl Crow.

San Francisco 49er Hall of Fame Quarterback and SuperBowl MVP Steve Young told HP partners that the secret for determining who plays defense and offense in football comes down to asking players on the first day of practice: "Is the Pacific Ocean on the East Coast or West Coast?" Those that answered West Coast played offense. Seriously though, Young said that any successful organization needs "mutual love, admiration or respect." And Young, a Bay Area stalwart, credited HP with driving that mutual love, admiration and respect through the organization. Are You feeling the love?

HP took its All-In theme for the conference to new heights with a team of Extreme Sports performers firing up the crowd. Here a BMX biker takes to the air as a rock bands gets the crowd revved up.

HP Channel Chief Adrian Jones was the man of the hour presiding over the gala festivities. Jones, who plays in an adult soccer league, showed off not only his partner prowess but his athletic prowess kicking soccer balls into a goal, catching a football and riding a BMX bike with a crew of X Games daredevils. Jones joked that his next adventurous act may well be skydiving.

Hurd told some 1,100 solution provider executives that HP needs their help to take the lead in in the all important U.S. market. "The bad news is we are not the biggest IT company in the U.S.," said Hurd, who in three years has taken HP from an $80 billion company that ranked behind IBM to the largest IT company in the world at $104 billion. "We are not leading in the United States. We want to lead in the United States. We need your help to lead in the United States."

Jones was the star of a South Park animation feature in which he played a cigar chomping coach rallying solution provider partners to victory over competitors that included the new guys, including a Michael Dell lookalike, and Sun Java dudes. In the video, Jones was interrupted by a phone call from none other than our very own CMP Channel Industry Editor Craig Zarley. "Tell him I'm too busy with partners to talk," said Jones.

Bob Venero, president and CEO of FutureTech, a New York headquartered VAR 500 solution provider, said HP is at least 20 percent better at partner program and processes than the competition.

"HP is the best out there in driving attach (rate) profitability," said Venero. "No one else is really doing that. That's because HP has the the broadest product portfolio. From our perspective that makes a big difference. IBM used to have that ability with PCs, servers, storage and software. But they changed their model."

Team Synnex in the HP house. (From the left, Bob Stegner, Synnex's senior vice president of marketing, North America; Bob Huang, president and CEO of Synnex; and Peter Larocque, Synnex president of U.S. distribution, are all in with HP.

Mike Larson, HP senior vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Group, Americas, said Dell must overcome its direct sales channel legacy. "Today a lot of partners are still concerned that once Dell gets the end customer do they still work them through the channel or do they become a direct Dell customer."

Jim Simpson, president of MSI Systems Integrators, one of IBM's largest business partners, surprised the HP Americas Partner Conference crowd by appearing on stage as an HP partner with Hurd. Simpson, who landed a spot on CRN's 2007 Top 25 most innovative industry executives, said he needed to add HP in order to grow his business and better serve his more than 3,000 customers. "Our clients have asked us to represent HP for a couple of years and we felt the time was right," Simpson said.

Don Richie, CEO of Sequel Data Systems, Austin, Texas, left, and Pete Busam, COO of Decisive Business Systems, Pennsauken, N.J., are all smiles as they look toward another year of big sales gains with HP.

Hurd takes the tough questions from a trio of HP partners, from the left, Romi Randhawa, president and CEO of HPM Networks, Fremont, Calif.; Jim Simpson, president of MSI Systems Integrators, a new HP partner in Omaha, Neb.; and Mark Melillo, CEO of Melillo Consulting, Somerset, N.J. Hurd met with scores of partners throughout the three-day event.

Tom Ianotti, who took over as managing director and senior vice president of HP's Technology Solutions Group Americas effective Feb. 1, said he is planning on doing a lot of listening and moving hard and fast to propel more sales growth. "If partners need things from us to grow their HP business we are willing to look at anything," he said. "My message is if you can help us we can help you. I am not in a nonprofit business. We are not making any donations. The focus is on growth, taking share and generating more profit. I don't think it is an either or proposition. It has to be both."

David MacDonald, president and CEO of Softchoice, a VAR 500 solution provider, said he was heartened by Hurd's stepped up focus on the storage market and the drive to grow US market share. "We need to kick Dell's ass!" he said. "HP has got to get faster with time to market with new (storage) products."

HP ProCurve North American Channel Sales Manager Kevin Kabat said the networking unit is mounting its most aggressive partner recruitment drive in its history with plans to increase its partner base from 5,000 to 7,000 partners. Kabat said the networking group is aiming to double its sales from $1 billion to $2 billion by 2009 and needs the help of partners. "When you have only 7 percent of the market there's a lot of business out there to go get," he said.

The lead singer from the HP host band for the three-day conference was not, despite appearances, Sheryl Crow. But they were up rocking hard every morning at 7:30 am getting partners pumped for the main session speakers with tunes like "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part." More than a few bleary eyed partners were blown away.

Jack Novia, right, managing director and senior vice president of HP's Technology Solutions Group Americas, who leaves HP in May, poses for a shot with Sam Haffar, president and Co-CEO of Computex, an HP partner in Houston, Texas. "We really smoked'em Jack," said Haffer, referring to the in the trenches sales work Novia did to help him close deals.

HP Executive Vice President of The Technology Solutions Group Ann Livermore told partners HP needs more Data Center Elite partners. HP has made next generation data center one of its primary sales targets. "The market opportunity is just huge if you decide to invest," Livermore said. "We are very eager to work with you." Achieving the certification allows partners to double their HP growth accelerator rebates. That's money in the bank.

Todd Bradley, executive vice president of the Personal Systems Group, told partners to drive more attach to systems with HP's online attach configurator, hpfastattach.com and to drive more Total Care personalized support to drive up margins. Those partners that have moved to a Total Care sales offensive have seen sales gains of 58 percent on average, said Bradley. The Total Care offering includes funding from HP that VARs can use to build their own brand. "We are committed to joint marketing programs that build brand equity for your business," said Bradley.

HP Executive Vice President of the Imaging and Printing Group Vyomesh Joshi told HP partners that he drawn a clear line in the sand with HP's IPG sales people restricted to the top 900 enterprise accounts. Anything below that line is exclusively for partners. That leaves 4,000 enterprise accounts and 8 million SMB accounts for partners. "We are going to be consistent and very clear," he said. "We really need your help."

Rick Chernick, CEO of Camera Corner/Connecting Point, an HP solution provider in Green Bay, Wis. who sits on the company's SMB Partner Advisory Council, was one of a number of partners that participated in a roundtable with Hurd. Chernick says no other CEO has the sales smarts of Hurd. "Mark Hurd gets it," said Chernick. "He is big but he is thinking little. That's how you get big. He wants to get his executives in front of customers (with partners). No one else is doing that. As a small reseller HP has given me every opportunity to grow my business. If I can't do it now with all the people and resources they have given me then it is my fault."

Nine-time Grammy Award Winning artist Sheryl Crow closed out the three day partner event with a performance that had partners and HP executives storming the stage. Crow told the crowd she was looking for "committed partyers"(not partners) and stepped into the crowd shaking hands as she sang. Among the lucky attendees to shake Sheryl's hand our own Industry Editor Craig Zarley. The set, of course, included Crow's hits "All I Wanna Do" "If It Makes You Happy" and "Leaving Las Vegas." Crow's encore was a blistering cover of Led Zeppelin's Rockn Roll. It's been a long time since any partner event rocked this hard.