On Monday a major partner of IBM, MSI Systems Integrators said it added Hewlett-Packard to its vendor partner roster.  The announcement was made at HP’s America’s Conference in Las Vegas.  Jim Simpson, president of MSI Systems Integrators of Omaha, Nebraska conducted a question and answer session with representatives from HP to make the announcement.

MSI Systems Integrators’ president Simpson earned a position on CRN’s Top 25 most innovative industry executives.  He said the addition of HP was necessary in order to expand his own business and best serve his over 3,000 customers.   

Simpson acknowledged his company’s partnership with IBM and has no plans of discontinuing the relationship or its scope in the future.  His plan is to not have separate HP and IBM divisions, but to base his business around his clients, which is a good plan for systems integrators focusing on services.  HP representative Michael Hurd also likened the concept of multiple partners to the idea of a computer business having multiple product lines.  

MSI Systems Integrators entered into the partnership a great deal because of Hurd and HP’s enthusiasm for serving the channel.  Simpson reiterated that at no time did the company hide plans from IBM.  He also stated that he would consider acquiring an HP solution provider as part of his systems integrators team to help start his HP business if the opportunity presented itself.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit