Virtualization Track at Cloud Expo

Cisco is not going to renew HP's long-time systems integrator contract when it expires on April 30.

That means HP won't be a Cisco Certified Channel or Global Service Alliance partner anymore because Cisco Certified Channel or Global Service Alliance partners get proprietary Cisco information like product roadmaps and discounts and that's kinda silly when HP and Cisco are competing for business.

Cisco sent its senior VP of worldwide partner organization Keith Goodwin out to deliver this message on YouTube.

Register Today and Save $800 !
Explore Sponsorship Opportunities !

He said Cisco's "relationship with HP has evolved from a partner to companies with different and conflicting visions of how to deliver value to companies" and that "for Cisco to lead market transitions... we must align with and invest in partners who share our network-centric vision."

This pretty pass is the result of Cisco trying to elbow its way into the server business that HP dominates and HP retaliating by launching its ProCurve line, buying 3Com and partnering with Qlogic to push into Cisco's networking preserve. HP's data center/cloud pact with Microsoft probably didn't help anymore than Cisco's alignment with EMC and VMware.

HP, in response, issued a statement taking the moral high ground and saying that Cisco should rise above the fray. "Most major players compete in one deal and partner in others to best serve clients' needs. We do not believe it is in the customer's best interest to take a proprietary stance."

Goodwin says Cisco is willing to entertain a different kind of arrangement with HP. "We have already reached out to HP to begin the discussion around a new agreement that ensures business continuity for existing customers and better reflects the current state of our relationship."

According to Ovum "HP needs Cisco more than Cisco needs HP" because HP's networking portfolio still can't go one-on-one with Cisco's widgetry. HP reportedly sells about a billion dollars worth of Cisco gear a year, and its own storage and servers on top of that.

That seems short-term and fixable. The damage to Cisco - well, the Cisco as we know it - could be deeper. What's it gonna do when IBM, Dell and Sun's contracts run out?

See Cisco's positioning for yourself at http://blogs.cisco.com/channels/comments/ciscos_evolving_partner_landscape/.