HPE’s new-look Partner Ready Vantage programme will hand richer rewards to partners who cross-sell across its full portfolio, its UK channel boss has asserted.
The enterprise tech vendor on 1 November combined all its 11 partner programmes under the Partner Ready Vantage banner, bringing Compute, Hybrid Cloud and Networking under one roof.
It is intended to support both generalists and specialists.
Partners who demonstrate ‘pan-HPE’ expertise across the three centres will earn ‘Triple Platinum Plus’ status.
Asked what behaviours and traits the new regime encourages over its predecessor, UKIMEA Channel & Partner Ecosystem Director Charlie Tunley pointed to the added cross-sell opportunities now available.
“We’re asking our networking partners to perhaps have a look at the other parts of the portfolio, and vice versa – because the strength and breadth of the portfolio is so strong,” he told IT Channel Oxygen.
“We believe there’s a huge amount of potential for our partners to cross sell into different parts of the portfolio.”
Joining up with Juniper
Having closed its acquisition of Juniper in July, HPE will fold the networking vendor’s partner programme and other additional programmes into its main programme “in 2026 and 2027”.
When it was first announced in January 2024, one UK partner leader said the $14bn Juniper deal would position HPE as a “formidable contender against Cisco”.
Juniper CEO Rami Rahim – who is now leading the combined HPE Networking business – said in July that his objective is to “build the best networking business on the planet”.
Asked where HPE’s enlarged networking portfolio will win against Cisco, Tunley claimed the addition of Juniper will give it a “much more complete and comprehensive portfolio than we’ve ever had”.
“The combined portfolio is incredibly strong. I think it will unlock success for us in every country and in every part of the networking market that we operate in, giving us the most comprehensive technology,” he said.
Reality check
For the first time, the HPE Channel Reality Show will also now encompass its entire portfolio, Tunley said.
Applications for the third season of the show, which pits early-careers HPE partner sales staff against each other in a series of tasks, have just opened.
“In a lot of cases, the season 1 and 2 contestants have gone back to their day jobs and been asked to be HPE champions or spokespeople within their partners, because of their level of understanding of our portfolio and the industry,” Tunley said.
“We’ve worked pretty closely with the senior leaders of our partners to get them to extol the virtues of the show to their early-careers, and a lot of them are really excited about it coming back for season 3.
“We’ve had lots of interest already.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
