After a difficult year, Hewlett-Packard says its diversified offerings will see it through until the market hits an upswing. The company will continue to use a mixed channel offering locally.
Speaking to ITWeb at the company`s Johannesburg offices, John Saw, HP`s business customer marketing manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), says HP has a strong and varied enough offering to see the company through the market downturn.
"The European management team has just visited SA and conducted a complete review for what is a very fast growing market," says Saw.
[VIDEO]"Globally, SA makes up around 1% of a $50 billion market, but the percentage belittles the value of this market."
HP released its latest storage offering to the EMEA market - of which SA is part - in January. The new offering is in the form of a 1u racked, four-slot disk system, which HP says can store 6TB of data in a two metre box.
[VIDEO]"Storage is an increasingly important part of the IT marketplace as more information is stored and comes across the Web. HP`s low form factor storage modules have proved particularly valuable to our revenue and we are always adding more to that complete range."
When asked if the PC was dead, Saw replied: "If you only view the PC as a desktop then that has been dead for a long time. A PC is increasingly a personal interface with the Web.
[VIDEO] "The elements of always-on infrastructure - e-services application applets across the Web that can help you save money, and information appliances (a PC is an information appliance) - make up Web computing, so if you take those elements to be the new PC, then the PC is not dead."
Commenting on HP`s channel, Saw says: "Increasingly, we will have a direct element. We are absolutely not getting out of distribution. There are many SMEs that need the IT skills and the value-added offerings of the distribution channel.
[VIDEO] "There are also those larger corporations that want the stock-holding capabilities, so the distribution channel is still key. There are, however, customers who want to buy direct and who want a direct relationship with the supplier, so we will be offering that to them as well."
Saw believes the downturn in the PC market, which adversely impacted HP`s financial results, will not last indefinitely, and he says the company has positioned itself to ride out the storm.
[VIDEO]"Results came out globally on 15 February and by market expectations they were disappointing. Certain technologies are difficult; the PC market is tough as there is more supply than demand. I believe, however, that the market is just taking a breath.
"Also, while the PC market is soft, the service or value-add markets are buoyant and we have the mix. HP is one of the technology stocks that is lower than it should be - highly oversold."
Related stories:
One ISP to go please
Share
