HP Vs. Cisco: Battle Of The Partner Conferences
The Grudge Match
Last week, HP hosted its Americas Partner Conference (APC) in Las Vegas. Cisco entertained partners during its Partner Summit in San Francisco at the same time. Partners of both vendors had to either pick an event to attend or hop on a plane midway through one event to catch some time at the other.
In the following pages, we’ll break down how HP and Cisco performed in a number of categories, from CEO keynotes to entertainment to networking opportunities. At the end, we’re going to raise the glove of one of these gigantic IT vendors and declare them Partner Conference Champion of the World.
1. Venue
CISCO: Cisco held its partner conference at the Moscone Center in beautiful San Francisco, with the bonus that the hometown Giants were in town and playing games just a few blocks away.
HP: For APC 2010, HP took over the Aria Resort and Casino -- the hottest new pleasure palace on the Las Vegas strip and part of the sprawling CityCenter development that opened in December 2009.
VERDICT: We love the City by the Bay, but Aria was a revelation.
BIG EDGE: HP
2. Attendance
CISCO: The Cisco Partner Summit was a global affair, with about 1,700 partners turning up in San Francisco for the event.
HP: Some 1,400 HP channel partners from the U.S., Canada and Latin America turned up for APC 2010.
VERDICT: Cisco had its global partner base on hand for its summit, HP’s conference was held for partners in the Americas, making it tough to compare the events.
EDGE: Even
3. Virtual Attendance
CISCO: More than 3,000 partners a day participated in the Cisco Partner Summit via constant updates on Twitter, Facebook, the Cisco Channels blog, live videos of keynotes and performances on YouTube.
HP: HP had live keynote videos available and updated remote attendees via social media on happenings at APC 2010, but keynote replays weren’t immediately available.
VERDICT: Cisco pulled out all the stops for its virtual conference, while at times it seemed HP was stuck in a Web 1.0 world.
BIG EDGE: Cisco
4. Strength Of Message
CISCO: Partners got lots of reassurance and vision from Cisco, but not a lot of brass tacks -- and the networking giant’s refusal to confront the HP elephant in the room was disappointing.
HP: With HP CEO Mark Hurd (pictured) leading the charge, the crew from Palo Alto was on message all the time at APC 2010, pushing partners to drive ESSN engagements hard and to get in front of lots more customers in the Americas.
VERDICT: HP was fired up for battle, Cisco seemed a little gun shy.
BIG EDGE: HP
5. CEO Keynote
CISCO: John Chambers was his usual charming and partner-centric self, and took pains to address Cisco supply chain issues. But some partners said they could have used less talk about why the company is such a powerhouse and more re-motivating of VARs to sell Cisco.
HP: Mark Hurd fired up partners with wit, an answer for every question and a simple message -- get in front of more customers, attack Cisco on margins in networking, and market share will come naturally.
VERDICT: Hurd came to win, Chambers seemed his usual self.
EDGE: HP
6. Executive Keynotes
CISCO: Channel Chief Keith Goodwin didn’t reprise recent HP-bashing comments, but did apologize for supply chain issues, as did Chambers and Randy Pond. Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior, Worldwide Operations boss Rob Lloyd and several more execs also spoke.
HP: Consistent, inspiring messaging from Channel Chief Stephen DiFranco, IPG head Vyomesh Joshi, Enterprise Business boss Ann Livermore (pictured) and others fired up HP partners at APC 2010.
VERDICT: Bolder, focused messaging from HP executives trumps useful but more generally themed efforts from their Cisco counterparts.
SLIGHT EDGE: HP
7. Guest Keynotes
CISCO: Business author Jason Jennings was a captivating speaker with good insights into what separates the world's greatest companies from merely good ones. Super Bowl-winning NFL coach Brian Billick, now a broadcaster, gave supposedly the best speech of the week -- but not all attendees got to see him.
HP: You can't do better for a technology keynote than DreamWorks Chief Technology Officer Ed Leonard, who gave HP partners an inside look at how film magic comes together with the use of great HP technology. And with the audience donning 3D glasses, Leonard showed off some of the best 3D scenes from "How To Train Your Dragon" and a sneak peak at the final Shrek film (pictured).
VERDICT: Dragons and Shrek or Jennings and Billick? If the former Ravens coach had been seen by more Cisco partners, we’d call it even, but ...
EDGE: HP
8. Executive Access
CISCO: Executives were readily available to partners throughout the summit and there were no complaints from Cisco partners about not getting what they needed. Cisco CEO John Chambers met privately with key channel partners, according to sources.
HP: Attendees mingled freely with HP execs like Senior Vice President, Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN) Randy Seidl (pictured) at the conference, but the clincher for some key partners was an hours-long private dinner with Mark Hurd.
VERDICT: When the CEO of the world’s biggest IT vendor breaks bread with VARs, it’s an easy call to give this one to HP.
EDGE: HP
9. Breakout Sessions
CISCO: Alas, press isn’t invited into the breakout sessions at most partner conferences. But sources called Cisco’s Technical Breakouts ’very strong’ and Channel Program Breakouts, ’solid.’ Cisco also pulled out all the stops in educating partners on its strategy for video and telepresence (pictured) -- a hugely important technology play for an increasing number of solution providers.
HP: Partners emerged from breakout sessions charged up and with a good grasp on Managed Print Services, Converged Infrastructure and other key HP launching pads into more market share. Sources singled out one APC 2010 breakout on rebate policy as a particularly good one.
VERDICT: Tough to say, but Cisco’s Technical Breakouts on video were widely praised.
EDGE: Cisco
10. New Partner Programs
CISCO: Partners were impressed with Cisco's debuted TIP program -- which gives partners margin points for their early involvement in Cisco-led deals -- and the promise of both a new services specialization and new terms for cross-border deals that make international partnering easier. All seemed designed to address gripes about some aspects of Cisco's services and incentive programs.
HP: HP used the conference spotlight to highlight some key changes to its flagship channel partner program, HP PartnerONE, including a new Healthcare Elite partner track, the expansion of its SMB Elite track to more partners, and new PartnerONE credits for selling HP imaging and printing supplies.
VERDICT: Both vendors pretty much stuck to channel program housekeeping at their respective partner conferences -- the rollout of really big channel initiatives tends to happen organically throughout the year, anyway.
EDGE: EVEN
11. Partner Passion
CISCO: By and large, partners said they didn't feel any more or less inspired than usual by Cisco, but said comments on the supply chain issues were encouraging, Cisco's message of partnering through the downturn hit home, and Cisco provided enough guidance on the Tandberg acquisition to answer most channel questions.
HP: Partners walked away from APC 2010 with fire in their bellies to sell the full HP product portfolio. HP CEO Mark Hurd’s Converged Infrastructure story has partners primed and pumped-+ to take on Cisco in the networking market. Dave Martel, vice president of Northeast sales for CAS Severn, a Manchester, N.H. HP partner, summed it up: "This is one of the best conferences I have been to in the last five years. HP has the best [channel] program in the business right now. Hurd has got the herd going in the right direction."
VERDICT: HP partners left Vegas newly pumped up, Cisco partners left San Francisco reassured in a more workmanlike way.
EDGE: HP
12. Partner Recognition
CISCO: Cisco honored 19 partners from various sales theaters and in various technology and services segments -- including a green award. Representatives from each of the winners joined Cisco Senior Vice President of Worldwide Channels Keith Goodwin for an onstage salute (pictured) during Thursday's final keynote presentation at the Cisco Partner Summit.
HP: Nineteen HP partners were also recognized by HP as tops in the Solution Provider Organization for growth, performance and community responsibility during the HP Partner in Excellence Awards event at the end of APC 2010.
VERDICT: Both vendors pulled off classy partner recognition showcases at their respective conferences.
EDGE: EVEN
13. Networking
CISCO: The schedule was packed, but still allowed lots of time for one-on-one sit downs and meetings. Most meeting, meal and lounge locations were within five minutes walking distance of each other, and each night saw either a networking reception or an hors d'oeuvres and open bar-type party.
HP: The Aria conference center was central enough for partners to mingle during breaks or walk over to one of the many cafes and watering holes on the casino floor or shop levels. Nightly events were also held, like the HP Partner Showcase.
VERDICT: We’re giving this to Cisco for one simple reason -- HP chose to book its conference at the same time as Cisco’s, robbing many partners of both vendors of the chance to network with peers who either had to pick one show or the other to attend, or else hit up both. Partners potentially missed a lot of networking action as a result.
EDGE: Cisco
14. Breaking News
CISCO: The networking giant introduced new services and value incentive programs and a few new promotions, plus confirmation that a combined Cisco-Tandberg partner program was nine months away and that the UCS and Vblock packages were opening up to more than 200 partners.
HP: What can you say about HP’s announcement that it plans to acquire Palm right during the heart of the Americas Partner Conference? That’s what we call going all-in -- a pure Vegas show of force that had partners seeing big dollars selling a one-stop HP solution from the smartphone to the data center.
VERDICT: In hindsight, Cisco’s biggest news may have been Chambers’ declaration that he doesn’t plan to acquire EMC. This one is a no-brainer.
HUGE EDGE: HP
15. Entertainment
CISCO: The Cisco Partner Summit featured fun cover bands, free-flowing drinks and good food -- from sushi to shrimp to steak to skewers. The best entertainment was DBR (aka Daniel Bernard Roumain), who tore it up on electric "funk" violin to wake everybody up on Wednesday morning.
HP: It's hard to beat Las Vegas for entertainment. HP took full advantage of Sin City’s star power with appearances by the Blue Man Group, pretzel-contorting acrobats, rock bands pumping up the crowd each morning, a hot set from indie rockers Smash Mouth, and then the rousing finale -- a tribute to the King his ownself courtesy of Cirque Du Soleil's new Viva Elvis show (pictured) at the Aria.
VERDICT: Sorry, Cisco -- it’s tough to beat Vegas. Still, you can take solace in that fact that your Hawaii Partner Summit of two years ago remains the Gold Standard for partner conference locales and entertainment.
BIG EDGE: HP
And The Winner Is ...
It was the equivalent of a heavyweight title fight with HP and Cisco facing off with competing partner conferences (many opted to attend HP's Viva Las Vegas gig rather than Cisco's tony San Francisco shindig). HP landed the big blows and ended up rattling Cisco's networking mojo. It wasn't a knockout but it was darn close with our judges' cards scoring a technical knockout for HP.
The world's largest computer company scored victories in nine of 15 rounds with decisive blows in everything from CEO Keynote to partner passion. Cisco won only three rounds. And three rounds were dead even. HP has its partners pumped and ready to sell the full HP portfolio. Cisco needs to go back to the training room and spend some more time on the speed bag.
WINNER BY TKO: Hewlett-Packard