The independent business technology community for HP users, Connect, is launching on March 1 the Connect Marketplace — a searchable index of HP partners that HP Connect members can turn to when looking for products.

HP PartnerOne and AllianceOne partners can set up a free basic listing or enhance their listing for a fee.

According to Nina Buik, chief marketing officer at HP Connect (which was formed by the consolidation of user groups), this is the only resource of its kind for partners that allows users to search the marketplace by different criteria – for instance, product type, HP partner affiliation and location — to find the right partner for them.

Partner listings will not be rated by users, but at some point in the future, after the marketplace is fully populated, partners may receive recognition in the way of awards or partner of the year, etc., Buik said.

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Total revenue for the quarter was approximately $12.9 billion on a worldwide basis, Gartner reported. That compares with $12.3 billion in the third quarter of 2010.

Asia Pacific was the fastest-growing region from a unit sales perspective, while Eastern Europe drove the most revenue growth for the world’s top server vendors. The fastest growing form factor was rack-optimized units, Gartner reported.

The firm noted:

x86 servers forged ahead and grew 7.6 percent in units and 9.3 percent in revenue. Some regions like Western Europe and the United States did not produce as much relative x86-based server growth because of comparatively strong third-quarter results in 2010.”

Unit shipments of RISC/Itanium servers slipped by 6.8 percent, but the vendors managed a 3.5 percent revenue increase over the previous year.

IBM grabbed the top spot from a revenue-generation perspective. It drove $3.84 billion in revenue, up from $3.7 billion in the third quarter of 2010. That was good for 29.7 percent of the overall revenue during the quarter.

Meanwhile, despite a decline in quarterly server revenue, Hewlett-Packard remained the unit shipment leader. HP shipped about 693,265 servers during the third quarter, a 3.1 percent decline for the time period. Its revenue for the quarter was about $3.8 billion, which made it the No. 2 vendor from a revenue standpoint.

Oracle, which was No. 4 vendor during the quarter behind IBM, HP and Dell, generated $763.6 million in server revenue during the quarter, almost flat from $763.9 million in the third quarter of 2010. Its shipments during the quarter didn’t rate a separate mention from Gartner; they fell behind HP, Dell, IBM, Fujitsu and Lenovo.

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How can this wacky Hewlett-Packard saga get even nuttier? LOTS of ways. Here are a few things to ponder going forward.

1: Track Jon Rubinstein.  The former Apple hardware whiz , aka The Podfather,  went to the beach for awhile before getting snapped up by Palm. Now that HP’s TouchPad is dead (or IS it?) he might be looking for other things to do and it would be extremely tantalizing if he ended up back at Cupertino’s Infinite Loop for Apple now that Steve Jobs has left the building. Of course, there were some hard feelings when Rubinstein took a hike, so it remains to be seen if Tim Cook would deign to let him back in.

2: Keep an eye on the Microsoft relationship.HP and Microsoft always seemed to be locked at the hip. But then HP got big ideas about fielding its own mobile-and-phone OS in WebOS and CEO Leo Apotheker started making noises about an HP-designed-and-built cloud ecosystem that sounded very competitive with Microsoft Azure. Oh, and HP was supposed to be Microsoft’s big hardware friend reselling Azure-based appliances to service providers and perhaps other customers. You can bet your life that Microsoft is down in Palo Alto pitching cloud collaboration in a big, big way. And of course that would involve HP running its cloud on–you guessed it–Azure.

3: Watch for TouchPad to make like Lazarus.  The TouchPad is dead. Well, maybe not quite. HP is running off another batch. Note to HP: Selling a machine that costs more than $300 to manufacture for $99 is no way to run a business. VARs still say if HP initially priced TouchPad at $399, it would have done just fine even against the iPad, but pricing it at the iPad level was nuts given the dearth of TouchPad apps.

4: Keep eyes on Todd Bradley.  Bradley sure sounds like he’d love to get his hands on HP’s PSG business and run that spin off himself. And many HP partners say he’s just the guy who could make a go of it.

5: Don’t rule out an Oracle bid.Never say never to a buyout bid by Oracle. You know that Oracle CEO Larry Ellison would love to throw out a low bid–egged on by lieutenant Mark Hurd (the guy who used to run HP.) WIth HP’s hardware franchise (minus the PCs ) and services arm, Oracle really could fulfill Larry’s dream of being the next IBM circa 1960. Cautionary word to Larry though: The good news is you’d be IBM. The bad news is you’d be IBM.

 Let us know what you think about this post; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com,

First Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker says the company might spin off or sell off its huge PC business and kill off its new TouchPads. Then a cadre of other HP execs hit the phones to tell partners–the partners that HP has pushed to sell more, more, more PCs and laptops– that PCs remain a priority at HP.

Now HP tells Reuters that a spin off–not a sell off–of the HP Personal Systems Group (PSG)  would be the best option. And  HP big wig Todd Bradley swears that whatever happens, the HP PC business will remain Number One. He reiterated that a spin off is the best option and smart money is that no one other than todd Bradley would run said spin off. 

Here’s the thing: We all get that HP has a fiduciary responsibility to disclose its options in this unforgiving environment–but HP also has to know that signaling a possible sale or spin off of the PC business signals that that business, that $40 BILLION-a-year  business, is no longer seen as strategic to HP.

And that gets the attention of HP business customers and HP VARs alike. These were the people who heard Mark Hurd say that the PC business gave HP such huge economies of scale that it got the best prices and most advanced components on the market.

At this point it almost doesn’t matter what HP ends up doing: Bill Kleyman, virtualization architect for MTM Technologies, said this maneuvering has IT folks going back to the drawing board.

 That’s because for many companies, the PC decision and the server decision are made in tandem. “Big HP shops have practices built around HP desktops,” Kleyman said. “These are not mom-and-pop accounts but massive shops with 5,000 to 7,000 users who built a practice around desktop solutions. Now what do they do?”

IBM’s sell-off of its popular ThinkPad business a few years ago to Lenovo is the prototype everyone points to . But that was handled much more smoothly than this,.HP’s handling of this bore all the earmarks of a circus clown car.  

The upshot was that the HP news–which leaked ahead of Apotheker’s announcment–thereby forcing his hand, was handled poorly. And because of that, these HP business accounts are having lots of meetings, Kleyman said.  He wagers that whoever’s in charge is saying: “We have 12 to 18 months to come up with a new strategy, new budgets and a new plan.”

What does that mean for the market? “There are lots of champagne corks popping at Lenovo and Dell.”

The downside of the IBM-Lenovo deal, according to Kleyman, was that customer service took a hit. “It may have been a good move [for IBM and Lenovo] but when I was a CIO, we were strictly an IBM ThinkPad shop. And when they went to Lenovo, we saw service, support calls, get much worse. Response times were worse. As an IT director you can’t have that. We moved completely away from Lenovo to HP.”

Let us know what you think about this post; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com,

This is a “reactive rebate”  so resellers should not actively solicit or advertise the price protection offer, according to an HP email.

HP  told VARs that it will offer full refunds to “resellers and our end customers who purchased the TouchPads at the higher price (prior to 8/20) and who have requested a rebate or a return.”  

HP launched the long-hyped product July 1 at $499 but quickly discounted it when buyers stayed away. Then it shocked the world last week by announcing that it was nuking tablet business.

HP distributors that took on product will be asked  to help process refund claims.

This is good news to loyal HP VARs who followed the company’s request to pre-order and tout the slick-but-now-dead devices and paid over $300 for them. It’s hard to make a profit when your vendor suddenly kills a product that lists for $499 and launches a fire sale offering the same untis for $99. Impossible, in fact.

HP’s cost for the tablet was reportedly $380 on which VARs could make 4% margins or $20 per unit.

Several VARs lauded the TouchPad’s multitasking capability and iPad-like interface but said HP priced them too high initially. They should have come out at $399 initially instead of trying to out-Apple Apple, one said.

“You can’t come out at the same price as iPad unless you have something dramatically better. The problem with TouchPad was a lack of apps,” said one long-time HP partner.

Let us know what you think about this post; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com,

This just in from a SearchITChannel.com spy. Yes, that’s a gigantic TouchPad banner hanging off HP headquarters as of Tuesday morning. Kind of eerie, ain’t it?

Last week, most stores were well-stocked with HP TouchPads. But now that HP nuked its tablet business, TouchPads are selling like hot cakes at $99 each. Our eye witness saw 35 to 40 people (no badges so not HP employees) lined up at HP before 9 a.m. for the hot-selling-but-dead product.

VARs said HP’s cost for the high-end TouchPad, which listed for $499, was $380. VARs could make 4% of list, or $20 from each sale> Small problem: Precious few sold at $499. But now VARs say customers are begging them for the $99 deals. Not likely, said one. “I expect to ship them back to Ingram [Micro] for a full refund.”

Is interest in the HP’s moribund TouchPad the ultimate irony, or is it a great – if unprofitable – guerilla marketing campaign from HP?

Let us know what you think about the story; email Pat Ouellette, Associate Editor, at pouellette@techtarget.com , or follow us on twitter.

Last week, CEO Leo  Apotheker told the world that HP was killing the new, heavily-hyped TouchPads, might sell off/spin off its huge PC division, and was exploring options for WebOS.

Oh, and it would buy little-known Autonomy for $10.3 billion.

One HP partner reached on Friday needed to be talked off the ledge.

“They’ve gutted this company,” he yelled into the phone. This VAR, and doubtless many others, are doubly hurt because they followed HP leadership’s advice to go “all in” with HP and expanded the HP products and services they offered. Now a good portion of those products look to be gone as Apotheker pursues his enterprise software, service and cloud vision.

This VAR – and others– spent Thursday night and Friday fielding calls from business  customers wanting to know if and how they should adjust their purchase plans.

Emails and phone calls from HP execs to channel partners, saying the company did not announce a shutdown of the PC business are not helping.

Email from Stephen DiFranco speaking on behalf of himself, Todd Bradley and the rest of HP leadership, stated that “HP remains committed  — now more than ever — to the health and growth of its PC business”  fell on bemused ears.

Said another partner: “Really?”  It was less than two weeks ago that DiFranco told partners that TouchPad is “one of our most exciting and taked about products” and that “despite the very short runway, we are pleased with customer response.”

It appears partners are not buying the half-hearted retreat from what Apotheker cleary stated Thursday night.

The prevailing opinion is that HP is wildly overpaying for Autonomy. And by mentioning a possible sell off/spin off of the $40 billion Personal Systems Group (PSG) it devalued that venerable franchise.

HP stock accordingly took a dive Friday, losing 20%  ($12.3 billion) of its value, and sparked near-immediate talk that Oracle (who else?) might swoop in and buy HP on the cheap. I’m guessing that transaction, if it happens, will be dubbed Hurd’s Revenge.

So far on Monday, HPQ shares are up slightly to $24.52, but that doesn’t come close to recouping the damage.

CEO Leo Apotheker and CFO Cathie Lesjack have had an interesting few days trying to shore up investor confidence.

Channel sources said they’ve had background conversations in which HP execs have told them  not to sweat any PSG sell off, that it will not likely happen. But that’s not soothing many feathers.

There is a dangerous perception among partners that HP leadership is consumed with competing with and beating not just IBM (services and cloud computing are Apotheker’s mantra) but Oracle. there is real fear that many of his actions are motivated more by beating Oracle than doing what’s right. Apotheker was former CEO of SAP, archrival to Oracle in enterprise applications.

This report was updated Monday afternoon with more partner reaction and details about Stephen DiFranco’s partner outreach.

In a statement (via BusinessWire)  HP confirmed earlier reports that it was talking to Autonomy Corp. PLC about buying that UK-based search company. HP also said it will “discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward. ”

This is a remarkable reverse and further signals that Mark Hurd’s HP is in the rearview mirror. Hurd engineered the $1.2 billion buyout of Palm in April 2010.  Yes, that is just over a year ago.

According to the statement HP will also explore “strategic alternatives” for its Personal Systems Group or PSG. Said options might include “a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction.”

Needless to say partner anxiety over this news was off the choice. HP has long encouraged its VAR partners to “double down” to carry as many of HP’s product lines as possible. As a result the most loyal HP partners sell servers and networking into the data cneter, as well as laptops and desktop machines. Several bought fully into HP’s heavily hyped TouchPad effort.

HP launched the TouchPad with much fanfare, and it garnered some good reviews, but even fans thought HP pricing was too high. It subsequently slashed prices.

These partners–many of whom remain unconvinced about HP CEO Leo Apotheker’s vision– now worry that all their investment will go for naught.

Let us know what you think about this post; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com,

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HP is slated to announce its earnings today after the markets close.

A spin off of the PC business has been rumored on and off for years as those products get more and more commoditized. The whole PC-and-laptop category is also under pressure from smaller, nimbler, more consumer-focused tablets gain favor.

 HP CEO Leo Apotheker has repeatedly noted that he wants to take the company deeper into enterprise software and services, where it lags IBM.

Bloomberg also reported that HP was nearing a deal to buy Autonomy, a UK-based search company for $10 billion. Think of the headline possibilities there: HP gains Autonomy, etc.

Former HP CEO Mark Hurd used to justify preserving the company’s margin-starved PC business because its purchasing power there gave it the best-possible pricing on the newest and best components. But many wonder whether margins are falling so fast to break-even that whatever efficiencies can be wrung out of the supply chain no longer matter.

Let us know what you think about this post; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com,

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About a hundred or so GreenPages customers–IT professionals from organizations ranging from area hospitals to Liberty Mutual Insurance and Stratus Computer — came to hear GreenPages’ cloud pitch, specifically the VAR’s planned “data bus” that would help them move data from on-premises data centers to hybrid and/or public clouds. But that was the official news. Here’s the real scuttlebutt.

1: iPhones remain king. Even as Android devices grab market share.  GreenPages CTO John Ross made headlines with his mention of a 300 million unit preorder of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5.

2: Converged data center takes channel toll. If data centers do move to converged compute/storage/networking hardware, it’s clear that IT personnel will be impacted big time. There won’t be as much need for a server guy, a storage guy and a networking guy if companies buy all that capability together. “There will be bodies,” said the CIO of one attending company who most definitely did not want to be quoted by name.

3: VAR wars will ensue. The converged hardware shakeout will also impact VARs and integrators in affected accounts. An IT exec with a healthcare company said his boss is under pressure to choose between one VAR who supplies EMC and Cisco gear and another who does VMware and HP work. “He wants fewer suppliers,” he said.

4: IT guys LOVE their iPads. At one break-out session,  at least 10 out of 25 attendees had iPads at the ready. Canvassed by the speaker, only one person had a non-Apple tablet (I think a Samsung Galaxy.) In another session, when an HP VP asked who among nearly 100 people had checked out the HP TouchPad only one or two hands went up.

5: HP has a lot of work to do.

Another attendee said he was apalled at the quality of HP laptops his company has bought of late. These “business class” machines are not up to snuff, he noted. He was similarly unimpressed with a pitch for HP CloudMatrix. The $400,000 to $450,000 fixed-cost for HP to set up a “mini Amazon Elastic cloud” implementation is too rich for most of these companies.

6:  The major hindrence to cloud adoption comes from within.

IT staffs do not like change. Once the infrastructure is working, they like to freeze the picture, several GreenPages execs and IT attendees agreed. That makes it difficult to get people to sign off on cloud plans.  Conversely, it’s not at all hard to convince line-of-business people within the organization of the merits of a private or public cloud deployment.

7: Vendors will support virtualization. Even if they say they won’t.

Oracle support policy states it won’t necessarily support Oracle software on non-Oracle virtualization, but not one attendee said they’d not gotten support from Oracle when they asked for it.

“Typically, they will support you. I hear this [complaint about vendor non-support] mostly from internal people who have to support the application,” said Ross.

8: Tech reporters can eat a LOT of lobster.

No names mentioned. You know who you are.

Let us know what you think about this post; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com,

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