HPE CEO Meg Whitman’s New Spin on Systems Integrators

HP Enterprise's decision to spin off and merge it enterprise services business with CSC (thereby creating DXC Technologies) already is creating new revenue opportunities for HPE, CEO Meg Whitman claims.

"I'm excited about our rapidly growing partnerships with system integrators," Whitman said during HPE's earnings call today. "While DXC remains a very strong partner to us, we are seeing accelerating demand from other system integrators following the spin of ."

HPE's overall revenue with large systems integrators saw strong growth in the quarter, up double-digits in Asia-Pacific and with certain partners in North America, Whitman indicated. "Our Indian SI partners grew by more than 20 percent year-over-year, driven by strength in the financial sector, strong demand for our flexible capacity offering as well as the first placements of synergy," she added.

Whitman didn't release actual dollar figures for the SI engagements, but the growth rates with India-based partners sound impressive. The reason: Many of India's systems integrators are struggling right now amid concerns about President Trump's outsourcing policies.

HP Enterprise Performance, Next Moves

Whitman hinted that additional partner milestones will surface next week during the HPE Discover conference in Las Vegas.

Despite the upbeat partner comments, HPE faces ongoing challenges with its hardware-centric business model. The company's Q2 net revenue from continuing operations was $7.4 billion, down 13% from the prior-year period and down 5% when adjusted for divestitures and currency, the company said. The results were within Wall Street's conservative expectations.

Whitman is betting that recent acquisitions like SimpliVity and Nimble will pay long-term dividends. But rivals like Nutanix claim to have growing OEM momentum with Dell and Lenovo, among others.