HPE’s New Unified Partner Ready Vantage: 10 Things You Need To Know

Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s new Partner Ready Vantage, which combines 11 different programs into a single unified program, delivers a wealth of new offerings, including a new Triple Platinum Plus tier. Here is a look at 10 big things you need to know about the new Partner Ready Vantage.

HPE Worldwide Channel and Partner Ecosystem leader Simon Ewington said the “revolutionary” single unified Partner Ready Vantage program combines 11 different programs into a single offering aimed at rewarding both transactional and specialty partners.

The aim from the outset with the single unified program was to recognize “competencies and the importance of those competencies,” encourage the “penetration of services, both our services and partners’ services,” and provide a “clear path to partner profitability,” said Ewington.

The new program—which has three main partner tracks: build, sell and service—will be rolled out in phases starting Nov. 1.

The build track, which is focused on developing or integrating solutions, is aimed at systems integrators, OEMs, ISVs and independent hardware vendors. The build track has a development center and a technology validation center for partner enablement.

The sell track, which is aimed at reselling HPE consumption services and technologies, is aimed at solution providers, resellers and VARs. The sell track has enablement centers for compute, hybrid cloud and networking.

The sell track for the first time includes the complete portfolio of HPE’s products and services across all areas, including networking with HPE Aruba and ransomware protection software with Zerto that can be sold as either a capital expenditure solution or operating expenditure service.

The service track, which is aimed at partners driving higher margins under their own brand, HPE’s brand or both brands, is aimed at MSPs, cloud service providers and service providers. The service track includes partner enablement for managed services, professional services, support services and customer success.

“We have made some enhancements to some of the [services offers] where partners can brand some of our services and add their services,” said HPE Vice President of Worldwide Partner Programs and Operations Jesse Chavez. “They have a lot of choices on whether they want to deliver their own services to be highlighted here or whether they want to have a mix of their services, and they have the freedom to do that.”

The unified HPE Partner Ready Vantage is aimed at helping partners push the technology innovation envelope, opening up new areas of opportunity like AI with HPE Private Cloud AI or the $4 billion virtualization market with HPE VM Essentials, said Ewington.

“Our innovation engine keeps increasing,” said Ewington in an interview with CRN. “That is what I think makes HPE so interesting for partners—being an innovator and not being an imitator. That is the thing that we do well. And our partner program and HPE Partner Ready Vantage—the new framework pulling together 11 partner programs into a single program—is pretty revolutionary for those that know HPE really well.”

The aim is to focus sharply on giving partners the “right knowledge, skills and tools to turn those technology innovations more quicky into revenue,” said Ewington.

A New Triple Platinum Plus Tier To Reward Partners Selling Networking, Hybrid Cloud And Compute

HPE is upping the ante in the battle for market share against rivals Dell Technologies and Cisco Systems with a new Triple Platinum Plus tier that rewards transactional sales of compute, hybrid cloud and networking.

The Triple Partner Plus tier comes even as HPE networking rival Cisco moves to Cisco 360, which does away with the traditional Cisco Gold medallion and some of its traditional highly lucrative transactional incentives.

HPE has yet to finalize the terms and conditions partners must meet to participate at the Triple Partner Plus level.

Ewington said the Triple Partner Plus tier allows HPE to reward “transactional partners who are driving great volume in compute, storage and networking products through the medallion structure “they know and love.”

“We've seen some of our competitors remove those structures and make major changes to their programs that have not been super popular, I would say,” he said.

HPE Intends To Integrate Juniper Into The New Unified Partner Ready Vantage

Ewington said HPE intends to integrate the Juniper Networks channel program into the new unified Partner Ready Vantage.

“The intent is the Juniper channel organization will also be integrated into the organization we have already created,” he said. “We created it with that in mind. We will still have one slightly broader worldwide channel and partner ecosystem organization when the acquisition closes.”

HPE is set to face off against the U.S. Department of Justice in a trial in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California starting July 9 in a bid to complete its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper.

The DOJ maintained in its lawsuit that the proposed merger would “significantly reduce competition and weaken innovation, resulting in large segments of the American economy paying more for less from wireless technology providers.”

HPE, however, has been resolute in its determination to see the deal through and is optimistic that the court will side with HPE.

In fact, HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri told CRN earlier this month that the legal discovery process in the court case gives him “more confidence” that HPE can win the case.

“Look, there is public information now with [legal] discovery with public filings,” said Neri in an interview with CRN. “Basically, that gives us even more confidence that we think we can win this case. Now you have to go to court and go through the process. But nothing has changed from what we have been saying for a number of months since January when they filed the claim.”

A New ‘Virtualization Alternative Assessment’ Tool To Help Partners Migrate Broadcom VMware Environments

HPE is introducing a new HPE Virtualization Alternative Assessment Tool, a stand-alone tool designed to “analyze a customer’s existing VMware environment to enable quick feasibility analysis of migrating VMware to a new alternative platform whether it is VM Essentials, Nutanix or GreenLake,” said Chavez.

HPE is also updating its rapid migration tool with a VMware To HPE VM Essentials migration option.

“Partners have been asking for this since we introduced VM Essentials,” said Chavez.

HPE partners said they see HPE Private Cloud Business Edition with Morpheus VM Essentials as a big opportunity to provide customers grappling with steep Broadcom VMware software licensing price increases with cost savings over Broadcom VMware Private Cloud Foundation.

In fact, partners said they see an opportunity reduce their customers’ VMware licensing costs by more than 10X with multi-hypervisor support and self-service cloud consumption.

HPE Adds HPE Morpheus VM Essentials And Compute Ops Management To Smart Choice

HPE said it is adding HPE Morpheus VM Essentials—its VMware alternative—and its Compute Ops Management platform, which allows partners to manage edge-to-cloud servers for customers—to its popular SmartChoice program.

HPE said it is also making its Smart Choice program, which provides fixed pricing and curated SKUs through distributors, available globally exclusively through the channel.

HPE said the global expansion is aimed at providing ready-to-go data center solutions targeting SMB and midmarket customers.

Marty Bauerlein, chief consumer and commercial officer for D&H Distributing, the SMB and midmarket powerhouse, said he sees the addition of HPE Morpheus VM Essentials to Smart Choice as a game-changer.

“Most solution providers are looking for solid alternatives due to Broadcom’s restructuring of VMware licensing into expensive bundles, with cost increases of 3X to 10X,” he said. “HPE VM Essentials offers an alternative, driving cost savings and more predictable pricing.”

As for Compute Ops Management, Bauerlein said, “D&H is focused on the MSP segment, and Compute Ops Management makes it easy for them to manage HPE infrastructure across their customer base.”

D&H has transitioned half of its HPE compute sales to SmartChoice, said Bauerlein. “We see great value in the offering,” he said. “It represents their most popular configurations and is priced at net, which allows channel partners to quote and ship instantly from our warehouses with no red tape.”

Partners have praised the Smart Choice program for providing them with preconfigured solutions at an attractive price that can be drop-shipped quickly to customers.

The program currently includes configurations from HPE ProLiant Compute servers, HPE MSA and tape storage systems, along with HPE Tech Care Services.

New AI 2.0 Partner Enablement And Competency Programs

HPE is unleashing what it is calling “AI 2.0” as part of an all-out enablement offensive to drive AI partner solution growth.

“AI is evolving so fast that we need to continue to evolve the content to make sure that our partners can stay relevant themselves and stay relevant to their customers,” said Ewington (pictured). “So at Partner Growth Summit [at HPE Discover] we are going to announce our AI Enablement 2.0.”

The new AI solutions competencies are:

• HPE Solutions for AI Competency, which validates that partners can “describe, size, quote, design and configure HPE Private Cloud AI with Nvidia technologies based on customers' AI requirements,” is now available. That HPE Solutions For AI Competency includes all of the solutions in an AI offering including compute and storage.

• HPE Solutions for Sovereign Cloud Competency, which is aimed at ensuring partners become “experts in the components and benefits of the HPE Sovereign Cloud reference architecture,” is also now available. The competency focuses on the “benefits” of digital sovereignty and the importance of regulatory compliance. Partners, particularly those in Europe, Middle East and Africa, have been asking for the sovereignty competency, said Chavez.

• HPE Aruba Networking Private 5G Competency, which provides partners with expertise in “developing solutions that streamline private cellular and integrate it with Wi-Fi.”

• HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software Certification, which is aimed at helping partners provide an alternative to Broadcom VMware virtualization with a “VM Essentials continuous learning badge” and the HPE Product Certified–VM Essentials certification. The new certification also opens the door for partners to achieve both private cloud and hybrid cloud solutions competencies.

Chavez said partners can expand their skills with HPE Morpheus VM Essentials certification through a continuous learning program. That certification will also help partners achieve private cloud and hybrid cloud competencies, he said.

HPE is also updating its Tech Pro Community hub with new technical content and solution architect community engagement.

New Updated AI Acceleration Workshops With Nvidia

HPE is updating its AI Acceleration workshops with Nvidia content, including access to Nvidia subject matter experts and resources for AI practice building.

These workshops will continue to follow the standard AI practice-building framework with the customization needed to suit partners’ specific business models and needs.

Ewington said the AI Acceleration workshops are aimed at providing insight with regard to where partners have AI gaps and how they can scale their AI practices.

Besides the Nvidia subject matter experts, HPE is going to update the workshops with the latest HPE AI innovation.

HPE-Nvidia Expanding Its AI Practice Enablement Offensive To 20 Additional Countries

HPE, which has completed AI Maturity Assessments with 100 partners in 30 countries, is now expanding that AI Focus assessment initiative to 20 additional countries.

Of the 100 partners that have completed the AI maturity assessment with HPE, two-thirds of them have sold AI solutions totaling $300 million.

The new AI Focus expansion includes distribution partners that will help HPE target parts of the market where “we feel we are somewhat untapped,” said Ewington.

HPE is also sharply focused on helping partners speed “time to revenue” with their AI practices, said Ewington.

An HPE Financial Services Boost For Partners Deploying HPE Private Cloud AI Developer System

HPE Financial Services is offering partners a reduced rate financing option for the HPE Private Cloud Developer Systems.

The financing option, which allows partners to spread the total cost of the AI development platform system over 36 months, is aimed at getting the developer system into the “hands of more partners” at a “vastly reduced cost,” said Ewington.

The aim is to get more partners to “start” their AI journey by investing in a developer system, he said.

“The idea here is to create a more affordable way for partners and customers to get experience on the platform,” said Ewington. “This allows partners to get the PC AI developer system integrated into their labs so they can get experience in generating proofs of concept for their customers.”

HPE Adds 20 New Partners To Its Unleash AI ISV Program

HPE is expanding its Unleash AI ISV program with 25 new prevalidated solutions available on the HPE Private Cloud AI platform. HPE now has 75 ISV partners.

“This speeds time to revenue even faster for our partner community,” said Ewington.

Among the new ISV partners are A121 Labs, Aible, Adaptive, Aleph, Ansys, BigID, Blackshark, CrowdStrike, Crew AI, DagsHub, Dataloop, Dataiku, Deepgram, Iternal, Kamiwaza AI, Naralogics, Neuroscale, Opentext, ProHawk, Reka, Securiti, Sickbay, Smart Spatial, Tabnine, Teradata, Vaidio and Vcinity.

HPE updated the program last November with six new partners: Codeium, Contextual.AI, Dataiku, IronYun, Securiti and Writer.

Among the ISV AI use cases for HPE Private Cloud AI are AI-powered software development, advanced retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), intelligent video analytics, and solutions for building safe and secure GenAI systems.

The Unleash AI program is aimed at supporting a rich ecosystem of ISV applications across the data, AI model and AI application layers of the technology stack, as well as systems integrators’ and service providers’ solutions.

HPE Launches New CloudPhysics Plus Assessment Tool With OpsRamp

HPE is launching the HPE CloudPhysics Plus assessment tool with its OpsRamp management platform.

HPE CloudPhysics Plus is an evolution of HPE’s CloudPhysics offering, which allows partners to provide intelligent recommendations comparing cost and consumption metrics across a wide variety of public cloud and on-premises options.

The OpsRamp capability, which provides an IT discovery and mapping capability across a complete IT environment, allows partners to make recommendations to customers “either on a consolidation or optimization” of their complete IT environment, said Chavez.

HPE said CloudPhysics Plus, which partners can sign up for through HPE Greenlake, will be available for free starting in the fall.