Alliance Development Manager searches for new programs, resellers

The post is one of the first in many years dedicated to establishing relationships for CSY with companies who can provide HP 3000 applications and software. Rant, who’s still wrapping up duties as the HP 3000 Software Product Manager, was working the HP World software provider crowd with a new business card.

The manager, who reports to new HP 3000 Product Marketing Manager Vicky Symonds, was hunting down leads on software for 3000s. His primary targets are the 3000’s connecting software and new manufacturing solutions.

“There are some elements of the solution still missing: middleware packages, system management packages or modules that could round out these applications we have,” Rant said. CSY’s strategy is built around the five vertical markets it is pursuing for new 3000 business: airlines, mail order, healthcare, credit unions and manufacturing. HP has already designated Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) for the five markets.

Even with strong alliances at the MK Group and eXegeSys, Rant acknowledges ”there could be other manufacturing applications that might offer a richer offering in the mid-range market. I’ll be taking a look at what ISVs we have out there today. What I’m seeing is that with the recent growth in the HP 3000 business, these ISVs that have been somewhat dormant are starting to wake up. They’re starting to call us and try to gauge what we’re doing.”

Even with a rich palette of utilities and middleware that comes from 26 years of service, 3000s still enter new businesses on the backs of applications, Rant said.

“The application is driving the sales of new HP 3000s,” he said. “It’s not a tool or a piece of middleware package: It’s the application. Then you get that drag effect of everything that goes behind it. These tool ISVs will have to figure out how to connect with the applications in those key markets we’re going after. I can facilitate that.” Rant envisions a way for a tool ISV to position products as the preferred tool to complement the applications.

Rant’s plans also include improving the support HP gives to software suppliers. “Once you get something going you need an infrastructure to support porting, enhancement and getting new releases,” he said. “That’s where the Software Partnership Provider [SPP] program comes in, or something similar to that.”

HP’s SPP provides developing companies with the hardware, software, consulting services “or whatever kind of services they need to be successful, both from the technical point of view, business and marketing,” Rant said.

SPP was formerly HP’s PA-RISC developer’s program, but was changed more than a year ago to include new discounting, services and a name change that would accommodate IA-64 as well as PA-RISC application developers.

“We’re probably not as tightly linked into them as we should or could be, and so we’ll figure out how to get more tightly linked in with what they’re doing, or decide to take a different approach.” SPP membership is a requisite of purchasing the Series 918DX software/hardware developer’s bundle.

“Many of these ISVs who have been riding the train along for the last few years are starting to understand what it means to market beyond the installed base.” Rant said. “Part of what I’ll be doing is meeting with these ISVs and taking a look at their status: inactive, dormant, active. If dormant or inactive, we’ll try to understand what the situation is and change that if it makes sense — if there’s a fit for those [five] markets we’re going after.”

HP estimates there are approximately 250 channel partners for the HP 3000 in the Americas region alone. “We’ll have to build some programs to ensure there’s a smooth transition to IA-64,” Rant said.

Rant’s activities at HP World made him an HP representative sought out by many ISVs, but it’s a position that feels familiar after his coordination with ISVs for MPE/iX issues. He’s been setting strategy for HP’s core software products for several years, based on a lot of input from the same contacts he’s tracking in his new post.

“I’m pretty well known as the [MPE] software product manager, so they like to walk up and ask me questions — even if I’m already talking to somebody else,” he said. “When I jumped into that position, I developed close relationships with key tool vendors. I think I’ll be able to leverage that forward into the application ISVs.

“The installed base is well aware of [tools resources], but the new customers don’t have a clue on how to run a 3000, for that matter,” Rant added. “A very important element of my position is figuring out how to hook all these [resources] together — so when a customer purchases a package, whether it’s Smith-Gardner or a Summit, all these tools [from outside resources] come with it, or are recommended as part of the solution to purchase as an add-on product.”