Business Services Industry

HP Boosts Support for Channel Partners to Expand Their Competitive Edge

Business Wire, June 20, 2006

LAS VEGAS -- HP (NYSE:HPQ) (Nasdaq:HPQ) today announced that it is bolstering its channel program with increased financial incentives -- in some case by more than 50 percent -- and expanded field sales support to magnify the competitive advantage of its channel partners.

Introduced at the HP Americas Partner Conference, the enhanced program spans HP's businesses. For the United States and Canada, the program increases incentives for the second half of HP's fiscal year, giving channel partners the opportunity to receive a 50 percent increase in compensation for the sales of certain products.

The increased incentives apply to the industry-standard server business -- including the recently announced HP BladeSystem c-Class -- and for personal systems products and services. It nearly doubles incentives for color and multi-function printers.

Additionally, HP is increasing its investment by 20 percent in resources to help channel partners hunt, mine and close business. Channel partners will get more field sales support, including more business managers, sales specialists and system engineers.

"HP's strong channel partnerships are a key strategic advantage in the marketplace and central to HP's business strategy," said John Thompson, vice president and general manager, Solution Partners Organization, HP. "Our commitment to the channel starts at the top and reaches across the company."

HP Chief Executive Officer and President Mark Hurd kicked off the conference on Monday with an address to more than 1,200 of the company's channel partners that reinforced the critical role they play in the success of the company as a global IT market leader.

Recognizing that generating new business requires longer sales cycles and more resources from its channel partners, HP also extended the benefits of the PartnerONE New Business Opportunity tool to allow resellers to earn rebates for new business deals on personal systems products as well as for select ProCurve Networking deals.

Partners can start registering new customer business deals in the desktop, notebook, handheld, thin client and point-of-sale system markets and ProCurve business deals under $25,000 beginning Aug. 1.

The HP Americas Partner Conference offers attendees more than 70 breakout sessions led by HP executives and conference sponsors -- including Microsoft, Intel and Citrix -- and one-on-one meetings for the opportunity to share challenges and goals with HP regional sales leaders and other channel partners. The conference runs from June 19-21 at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2006, HP revenue totaled $88.9 billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.com.

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