What does HPE’s new AI strategy mean for the channel?

HPE has marketed itself as the ‘edge to cloud’ company for several years now, but that may soon change. The company has added artificial intelligence (AI) as a third pillar to its business model, and it’s set to take equal place alongside edge and hybrid cloud.

Beyond making a potentially awkward strapline, this new direction could make things awkward for partners, too.

During a breakout session at the company’s Partner Growth Summit, which took place the day before HPE Discover kicked off, AI was listed as a competency area for its Partner Ready and Partner Ready Vantage programs, alongside edge and hybrid cloud. 

However, while edge and hybrid each had five areas that are ready for partners to start working in now, all the elements listed under artificial intelligence – HPC for Enterprise, Supercomputing, Data Analytics Solutions, and AI Solutions – were listed as “future options”.

The earliest that future is likely to arrive is fiscal year 2025, according to Jesse Chavez, vice president of worldwide partner programs and operations, despite CEO Antonio Neri intimating at the Partner Growth Summit keynote that we can expect big news around AI, HPC, and supercomputing in his main Discover keynote.

So, where does this leave partners?

On the one hand, HPC and supercomputing are highly specialized areas that are traditionally sold directly as part of multi-year contracts featuring bespoke setups, so the channel isn’t being cut out of any immediate deals. AI, meanwhile, is an emerging field that few traditional resellers, systems integrators, or other channel partners would have a foot in, if any.

On the other hand, if this is going to be such an important part of HPE’s future, why not encourage partners to start making their first moves in this area sooner rather than later?

A change in mindset

HPE Partner Ready Vantage, the company’s second partner program, was also under the spotlight at the event. While Partner Ready has been in place since 2015, Partner Ready Vantage was only announced at the Partner Growth Summit last year and takes a different approach to how reselling is done.

As Chavez explained, Partner Ready Vantage puts what the partner does and what they want to achieve at the center, rather than the type of organization they are.

“In the past, we used to design programs that were focused on partner types, and in the future … our Partner Ready Vantage Program is actually recognizing different business models,” says Chavez.

Partner Ready Vantage has three tracks containing a total of five “centers of expertise”. The first of these is 'Build', which contains Solutions and Development, and also Technology Validation. There's also 'Sell', which contains as-a-Service. Finally, there's 'Service', which contains Customer Success, Professional Services, and Managed Services.

All of this, Chavez said, gives partners the chance to be part of a wider ecosystem which opens up the opportunity for collaboration between them, as well as reselling HPE products and services wrapped up in their own value-added offering.