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Liveblog: HP Americas Partner Conference 2011: Day 2 Afternoon

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Stephen DeWitt and Randy Seidl

HP Americas execs Stephen DeWitt (left) and Randy Seidl (right) take the stage Wednesday afternoon at APC.

LAS VEGAS – HP Americas Partner Conference 2011 continues Tuesday afternoon with a main session that includes addresses from the company’s Americas leadership team.

Slated to hit the main stage here at the Aria Resort and Casino are Stephen DeWitt representing Personal Systems Group (PSG); Lynn Pendergrass representing Imaing and Printing Group (IPG); Randy Seidl from Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN) and Joe Bottazzi from Technical Services (TS). Also expected is a yet-unannounced executive from the software group.

ChannelBuzz.ca will be back to liveblogging the events starting at about 3:15 pm Pacific Time, and the briefing is slated to continue through about 5:00 Pacific.

Join us for an inside look at what’s going on APC, and check out the liveblog after the jump.

  HP APC 2011 Day 2 Afternoon (03/29/2011) 
3:19
Good afternoon from the Aria in Las Vegas. Introductory video is playing, and the afternoon keynote session here at APC 2011 is about to get underway.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:19 
3:19
Stephen DiFranco is out as usual to tee it up, with a little reprise of Baba O’Riley from the house band.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:19 
3:21

DiFranco sharing some interesting stories of HP partners’ origins and beginnings, including one tale of a company that’s gone from an $8,000 loan to a $750 million solution provider. “We should celebrate each other and our combined success,” DiFranco says.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:21 
3:22
And with that, DiFranco introduces his boss, Americas PSG boss Stephen DeWitt.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:22 
3:23
DeWitt says he hopes to provoke, to inspire and “be in the foxhole driving lots of profitability” with partners.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:23 
3:25
DeWitt going through a review of what HP was talking about last year at APC, using about a six-foot-tall toucshcreen display.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:25 
3:27

“We don’t play for first place, we play to win…. we invest to win,” DeWitt says, promises HP will invest in partners’ businesses “to make markets,” because creating new markets is just as important as “serving the core.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:27 
3:27

DeWitt says HP is “very aware” of Apple’s growth, of the “100 tablets that launched at CES” and other competitive pressures.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:27 
3:28
DeWitt says HP will “SKU up” its solutions innovation and make it available for partners to build upon.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:28 
3:29
And yep, the touchscreen is HP Vantagepoint, which is coming to market in a matter of weeks, DeWitt says. “This is one of many highly immersive video platforms we are building for industry. Build businesses around this.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:29 
3:31

DeWitt calls the current time “the biggest inflection point” the PC industry has ever seen — says that Moore’s Law is dead. Processors with more horsepower is no longer enough to drive the pace at which Moore’s Law allows.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:31 
3:32
Says HP is making changes to speed up its business and innovation to match the market opportunity.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:32 
3:33
“The next car you buy, the next white good you buy, it’s going to be connected to the ‘net. This isn’t just about PCs and tablets and smartphones.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:33 
3:34
By 2020, DeWitt says to expect 50 trillion GB of data created.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:34 
3:36
“This will be the last technical refresh that looks anything like this,” DeWitt says, in the terms of trading 10,000 old PCs for 10,000 new PCs.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:36 
3:36
“The role for PSG in this new connected world has never been greater. We are the endpoint for the delivery of this vision.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:36 
3:38
“I really hope you all have had an opportunity to see the [webOS] products,” DeWitt says.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:38 
3:39
“We have a vision that our stuff next to our stuff is better than our stuff next to someone else’s stuff. I hope you’re okay with that,” DeWitt quips about the ability for webOS devices to share content and information amongst themselves.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:39 
3:41
In the past, evolutions have been value on top of OS and chip changes. Consumer and commercial have been separate. “We’re moving out of that, from a world that’s defined by a platform to a world that’s defined by you.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:41 
3:43
DeWitt calls “the computer is personal again” campaign a harbinger of the changing role of the PC. “We believe we can build a world that’s completely centered around you and your state.” A family of secure devices that know where you are, what you’re doing, what network you’re on, what the security paramters are, the sources you trust. “To deliver that is truly one of the most awesome visions I’ve ever been involved with in the computer business.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:43 
3:44
“This is not something we’re going to deliver in the spring of ’11,” he says — this is a long-term journey about “making markets.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:44 
3:46
DeWitt hands the stage over to Lynn Pendergrass, his Americas counterpart with IPG.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:46 
3:52
Pendergrass detailing some of the interface changes the company has made with its commercial printers, making them more consumer-like.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:52 
3:57
Pendergrass urges partners to “believe in the ePrint revolution” – expects to have 9 million Web printers in the Americas this year, 20 million worldwide. ePrint is HP’s web-connected printer lineup.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 3:57 
4:01
“Invest in the areas you can win,” Pendergrass tells partners — focus should be on solutions like managed print rather than simple device sales. “Let’s lead this revolution together.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:01 
4:02
And Pendergrass hands over to her ESSN counterpart, Randy Seidl.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:02 
4:03
Seidl’s segue: Get customers to save money with managed print, then use that money to buy lots of ESSN stuff. No doubt that Randy’s a sales guy.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:03 
4:03
“The offering we have now is bar none the best portfolio, the best solution set, and it’s shipping now,” Seidl says.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:03 
4:06

Seidl mentions his past life as a VAR, but no mention of his immediate past life, at Sun/Oracle, which has been a frequent target of attack this week at APC.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:06 
4:08

HP is legendary, its products are legendary, its partners are very legendary, Seidl says. But its own salesforce? “We’re working on it,” he quips.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:08 
4:10

Four new programs coming out today.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:10 
4:10
First, a Portfolio Incentive  program running from April 1 to October 31, offering 3 to 5 per cent bonus for selling multiple product lines. The slide says U.S. rollout first, no word on when it launches in Canada.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:10 
4:11
Second, Top 500 Competitive Accounts Incentives — 5 per cent off list for ESS and technical services, 10 per cent for networking and software, for competitive displacements in 500 named accounts. Also April 1 to October 31. Also US rollout first.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:11 
4:12
Third, Field Alignment Program — all field reps doing at least two sales calls with partners every week.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:12 
4:13
Fourth, goal for 10,000 partner reps through the company’s Selling Through Curiosity online training course.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:13 
4:21
A warning from Seidl: “We’re going to bring in other competitors to compete with you if you’re not selling storage, if you’re not selling networking, and if you’re not doing a good job with TS.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:21 
4:22
And out comes Joe Bottazzi, SVP and GM for Technology Services at HP.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:22 
4:28
Bottazzi detailing the changes TS has made to its partner engagement, and how it positions its services — for keeping technology running; for building infrastructure for the future; and for allowing IT to deliver business instantly.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:28 
4:31
“We know that companies are struggling with aging data centres, rigidity, and bringing it all together,” Bottazzi says. “Customers want to take servers, storage and networking into pools and bring it together on the fly.” 

HP’s services cover where customers are today, and where they’re headed in the near future.

And “everyone of these services is enabled for you to pick up, sell, and include in your portfolio.”

Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:31 
4:32
Bottazzi says HP is open to co-branding any and all technology services.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:32 
4:35
Bottazzi detailing the partner engagement model: not really defining where partners play. “We want you to play anywhere in this portfolio where it makes sense for you.”
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:35 
4:39
Bottazzi hands the afternoon’s proceedings over to the last scheduled speaker of the day – representing HP’s software business, once again, Bill Veghte, this time without peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:39 
4:41
Bill’s looking for volunteers to come on stage and join his discussion. Happily enough, the first partner is “one of the few, the proud” HP Software group partners.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:41 
4:51

Veghte again promoting HP Discover back here in June, tells partners to bring their customers. Offers a deal: Any new business after April 4, partners selling more than $150k in Data Protector, Storage Essentials, CSA, or Network Protector, will bring a customer to Discover on HP’s dime.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:51 
4:52
Stephen DiFranco out to wrap up the afternoon’s sessions.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:52 
4:55
That brings this session to a close… thanks for joining us. We’ll see you tomorrow morning for the wrap-up of the show here, including Viymoesh Joshi and Todd Bradley.
Tuesday March 29, 2011 4:55 
4:55