Parrottino used his XChange Solution Provider keynote to remind VARs that HP is open for channel business despite a few bumps in the road last year, and that it is dedicated to growing its solution provider partners' business based on a strong hardware foundation.

"I know there has been a lot written in the last six months about our commitment to certain product lines," he said, referring to questions about whether HP would keep its PC business or sell it off. "But we have the most compelling, strongest product portfolio in the history of Hewlett-Packard."

That portfolio includes such latest additions as HP's Folio ultrathin notebook with instant-on operation and a 9.5-hour battery life; the Z1 all-in-one workstation with a 27-inch screen that opens to provide access to upgradable components; and the new ProLiant Gen8 server line, Parrottino said.

Parrottino said HP makes no apologies for its hardware focus, which accounts for about 70 percent of the company's business. "We make phenomenal hardware products," he said. "Everything from our notebook products all the way up to big iron. And we continue to innovate. ... We make no apologies for making extremely innovative hardware."

HP brings its products and solutions to the channel via its PartnerOne channel program, a program Parrotino said ensures partner sales and profitability growth much higher than the company's overall business.

"The power of our portfolio, and the ability to drag in different aspects ... leads to new opportunities for partners," he said.

John Convery, executive vice president of vendor relations and marketing at Denali Advanced Integration, a Redmond, Wash.-based solution provider and HP partner, said that HP has indeed weathered its latest "bumps" with a consistent management team and the enthusiasm of President and CEO Meg Whitman.

HP PartnerOne is the richest channel program in the industry, Convery said. "HP knows how to motivate two kinds of people: the salesperson and the partner. If I invest across HP's portfolio, I know I'm getting double-digit profits across the portfolio," he said.

Hewlett-Packard on Friday said Cisco's decision to break the long-term relationship between the two companies marks a return to a proprietary attitude toward business and will hurt customers.

Instead, HP said it and its customers can succeed without relying on any one networking platform, including Cisco's.

It's a message close to the heart of HP's solution providers, who say that the vendor's strength in server and storage combined with its growing ProCurve networking business make the divorce between HP and Cisco a cause for optimism.

Keith Goodwin, senior vice president of Cisco's Worldwide Partner Organization,, said in a blog post on Thursday that Cisco notified HP that it will not renew HP's System Integrator contract when it expires on April 30, 2010, resulting in HP no longer being a Cisco Certified Channel or Global Service Alliance partner.

HP, in a statement issued on Friday, shrugged off the move by Cisco, calling it a proprietary move that is not in customers' best interest.

The statement read, "History has proven that customers and the market demand both coopetition and collaboration between IT vendors. Most major players compete in one deal and partner in others to best serve clients' needs. We do not believe it is in the customer's best interest to take a proprietary stance.

"We will provide clients with consulting, integration, management and support services for their heterogeneous environments and ensure that our hardware and software platforms are optimized for all leading networking platforms.

"Our strategy and platforms will continue to be market driven to create advantage today and into the future for our clients."

The long-expected break between HP and Cisco came as no surprise in the wake of Cisco's decision to tie servers, storage, and networking into a single platform it call Unified Computing System, or UCS.

That move, which is bringing Cisco into competition with former partner HP's own server and storage business, is being countered by HP's pending acquisition of networking vendor 3Com.

The split between the two vendors will spur HP to focus more resources on its networking business, which will be a boon to customers looking for alternatives to Cisco and its expensive service contracts, HP solution providers said.

Cisco will always control the core networking market, said Bob Venero, CEO of Future Tech, a Holbrook, N.Y.-based solution provider and partner to both HP and Cisco.

"But take a look at the edge of the network," Venero said. "There's where the opportunity is, especially with products that offer differentiation. This will force HP to focus more on ProCurve, and provide its partners more resources and education. That's an opportunity for VARs."

Talking Cisco with customers means running into a lot of competition, Venero said. "Today, if you talk networking with a customer, you're competing with every Tom, Dick, and Harry who are talking Cisco. If you go in with HP, you can talk ProCurve, and soon 3Com."

While Cisco has the largest share of the networking market, HP has one huge advantage in the lifetime ensure it offers on its ProCurve switches, solution providers said.

That is a big advantage said Scott Hansen, sales manager for enterprise solutions at Melillo Consulting, a Somerset, N.J.-based solution provider and HP partner.

"HP's lifetime warranty is for next-day service and phone support, but that's no big deal for customers," Hansen said. "If someone loses a switch, they don't care. They keep an extra in their closet. But a lot of enterprise customers who are cutting costs are looking at ProCurve, especially at the network edge, because Cisco's maintenance contracts are expensive."

A lifetime warranty means big cost savings for HP customers, Venero said.

"In an economic downturn, people are looking for alternatives," he said. "If a customer doesn't need a maintenance contract for a switch, that's a huge differentiator."

Next: HP Partners To Cisco: Bring It On!

HP's solution providers almost relish the thought of Cisco breaking with HP.

Venero said the move could be good for HP's SMB customers.

"In the SMB space, there might not be a networking core, where Cisco is strong," he said. "There, the business might just be on the networking edge, where HP is strong."

The only real loser in a war between HP and Cisco will be Cisco, said Mark Gonzalez, president of Nth Generation Computing, a San Diego-based solution provider and HP partner.

Cisco's public break with HP makes it clear how relationships between the two have deteriorated, Gonzalez said.

"Personally, I'm very surprised that Cisco has gone public with this strategy vs. pursuing one where the relationship was allowed to die on the vine due to benign neglect," he said. "Cisco is clearly trying to deliver a message both to customers and the industry at large, and it's a sign that HP's counter-attack is beginning to really hurt them. Cisco's message to customers is, 'Choose, it's either us or them.'"

Gonzalez compared Cisco's move against HP to Napoleon's decision to attack Russia in the dead of Winter.

"Just because you're a big fish in a small pond like the networking world, doesn't mean that you should take on the great white shark of the computer industry," he said. "I see no way in which Cisco can win this war. Their message at the VMware Partner Conference was that their goal was to 'uncommoditize' a commodity business. Good luck with that strategy in the middle of the greatest recession since the Great Depression."

Gonzalez said that, in the time since Cisco's decision to compete with HP in the industry standard server business, HP has decided to acquire 3Com even as it put greater emphasis in its ProCurve partner compensation to compete with Cisco.

In the meantime, HP is the market leader in industry-standard servers, and that its industry standard server business grew 27 percent in its most latest quarter compared to the same period a year ago, Gonzalez said. HP is also a top storage vendor, and buys more disks than any other vendor or customer.

He also expects other changes at HP that will hurt Cisco.

"Want to bet that very serious conversations are taking place within Enterprise Services, formerly known as EDS, about substituting ProCurve everywhere that Cisco was spec'ed originally?" he asked.

HP's strategy when it comes to competing with Cisco is to emphasize the compatibility between its ProCurve and Cisco's networking products and prepare to use its 3Com acquisition to force Cisco to defend its business across the board.

The HP message to customers is clear, Gonzalez said.

"HP is saying, 'Are you tired of paying the high maintenance costs for Cisco products? Are you tired of funding Cisco's 65 percent gross margin lifestyle? Then Mr./Ms. Customer come talk to us about ProCurve. Who knows, you may like our products -- a lot of customers do. But even if you decide you don't want to buy our ProCurve products, get a quote from us and use it to leverage Cisco's pricing,'" he said.

In a nutshell, HP's strategy boils down to telling partners to win the deal, Gonzalez said.

"If you can't win the deal, delay it," he said. "If you can't win the deal and you can't delay it, then scorch the earth to where the deal will never be profitable to Cisco in the customer's lifetime."

Next: Reality Check: For Some, Business As Usual

For some HP solution providers, the public split between HP and Cisco will have little impact for now.

It is time to take a wait-and-see attitude, said Dave Butler, president of Enterprise Computing Solutions, a Mission Viejo, Calif.-based solution and partner to both HP and Cisco.

"This is just a continuation of what's been happening for some time," Butler said. "There's no, 'oh-my-gosh' here. They've been battling in the sandbox for a couple of years."

Both customers and partners are aware of the fighting between the two vendors, which Butler said caused him to scratch his head when reading about the Cisco blog post on Thursday.

"Other than putting it in print, what's changed?" he said. "A lot of buzz about nothing. The white elephant was already in the room."

Another solution provider who works with both vendors and who preferred to remain anonymous said the surprise was gone a long time ago.

For Cisco-focused partners, the vendor break-up is probably good news, the solution provider said. "Before, they had to compete with HP," the solution provider said. "Now they can work better with Cisco."

There should not be much impact on HP partners either. "They may lose a bit of business where they sold maintenance contracts with the Cisco gear, which will also supply an 'in' to a Cisco VAR," the solution provider said.

What you need to know

• A Windows bug installed the HP Smart app onto some PCs without permission.

• The issue also renamed printers to be listed as HP devices, even if they were made by a different brand.

• Microsoft released the Printer Metadata Troubleshooter Tool to fix the issue on affected PCs, though it requires you to use Command Prompt.

Earlier this month, a peculiar bug installed the HP Smart app onto PCs without permission. Windows added the app to computers without any HP devices connected or printer drivers installed. The same bug also renamed printers, regardless of brand, to be listed as HP printers.

Microsoft confirmed the issue and promised a fix. That fix is now here, though it's in a different form than many Windows bug fixes. Rather than a Windows update rolling out with a fix, Microsoft has made a separate tool available that will uninstall the HP Smart app and fix the names of your printers.

Specifically, the Microsoft Printer Metadata Troubleshooter Tool will restore the model information and icons of your printer and remove the "HP LaserJet M101-M106" model information (unless that's the exact model of printer you have). The tool will also uninstall the HP Smart app if that app should not have been installed on your PC.

Microsoft outlines how to use the tool in a support document:

• When it is run by enterprise administrators, correcting printers for all users and sessions on a system requires running the tool as the Local System account. Tools such as PsExec or Windows Task Scheduler can run commands as Local System.

• When it is run by users managing their own printers, this tool must be run using administrative credentials. The following are recommended steps to execute the file and confirm it worked:

  • Click Start, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt, and then select Run as Administrator.

  • In the opened command prompt, type cd /d “[path_to_downloaded_tool]” and then press Enter.

  • Type the name of the file appropriate for your device from the list below (for instance PrintMetadataTroubleshooterX86.exe) and then press Enter.

• The tool will return the message Troubleshooter completed successfully on devices where incorrect printer information was found/fixed. Or, it will return the message Troubleshooter not applicable since metadata package not found on devices that are not affected.

A strange bug gets a strange fix

The bug Microsoft just fixed is rather strange. Windows PCs without an HP printer or any HP device connected installed the HP Smart app, seemingly at random. The issue would also rename printers, regardless of their brand, to be listed as HP printers. Many were upset by the bug, since it meant software appeared on their PC without permission. The issue also locked some users out of advanced printer features, since their printer had been mislabeled.

The fix for Windows installing an app without permission is to make people download and install another tool. The Microsoft Printer Metadata Troubleshooter Tool takes up very little space, the entire download is 877.7 KB. But still, it's somewhat ironic that you have to download something and install it to fix a bug that downloaded and installed an app without permission.

Even with the tool installed, applying the fix requires using Command Prompt as an administrator. Tech savvy users will be fine entering code into Command Prompt, but many people have never used Command Prompt. More importantly, people shouldn't have to use Command Prompt and a separate tool to fix a Windows bug.

Overall score is calculated based on proprietary scores based on sector averages in key company indicators: fair value, dividends, innovation, hiring, and insider sentiment. Note: if you don't see a key indicator sub score below it is because this company's data is not currently available for that area.

This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, Digital Trends and Yahoo Inc. may earn a commission.

You don’t need to spend a fortune on gaming PC deals in order to get a decent machine, especially since there are offers like HP’s $300 discount for the HP Victus 15L. From $780, the gaming desktop is down to a very affordable $480, but only if you’re able to take advantage of the bargain while it’s online. As part of HP’s end-of-year sale, there’s probably only a few days left before it gets removed, but you shouldn’t wait until the last minute before you push through with your purchase as stocks may be gone by then.

Buy Now

The HP Victus 15L gaming desktop runs on the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G processor, AMD Radeon RX 6400 Graphics, and 8GB of RAM. Compared to the specifications of the most expensive models of the best gaming PCs, these components have no chance of matching up to them. However, they make for a great starter gaming desktop, as they will allow you to play the best PC games on the HP Victus 15L, though probably at low to medium graphic settings for most of these titles. That’s an acceptable trade-off, particularly because of how cheap you can get the machine.

With Windows 11 Home out of the box, you can start installing games on the HP Victus 15L’s 256GB SSD as soon as you finish setting it up. The gaming PC features four USB-A ports and a USB-C port at the front, plus four more USB-A ports at the back, so you’ll be able to connect all the accessories that you use while playing video games such as headsets and speakers.

The HP Victus 15L is the perfect starter gaming desktop for those on a budget or who are new to the PC gaming scene, especially with HP’s $300 discount that pulls its price down to just $480 from $780 as part of the brand’s end-of-year sale. However, once the offer is gone, we’re not sure when you’ll get another chance at it, so if you don’t want to lose this opportunity to buy the HP Victus 15L gaming PC for less than $500, you’re going to have to complete the transaction as soon as possible.

Buy Now

SAN JOSE, CA, November 18, 2002 . . . Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today that the Atmel USB 802.11b design has been selected by HP to provide an integrated Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) solution for select models of the recently announced HP iPAQ Pocket PC h5400 series. The Atmel reference design, utilizing the RF Micro Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq: RFMD), radio front end, is the highest performing USB 802.11b module solution available today.

Previously, WLAN solutions for the iPAQ were achieved by use of an expansion pack and a separate WLAN PCMCIA or CF card. The compact size of the Atmel/RFMD module has enabled HP to provide an integrated WLAN solution into the base iPAQ unit, which frees up expansion pack slots or eliminates a need for an expansion pack in many cases.

The Atmel solution provides a high performance solution with exceptional throughput and low power consumption. The low power consumption is critical in battery-powered products. Atmel has achieved a solution that not only conserves power, but also does not sacrifice performance.

"Atmel is pleased to contribute the WLAN technology for integration into HP's leading-edge iPAQ Pocket PCs. Usage in this high profile product reinforces Atmel's position as a major solutions supplier, which can provide superior complete custom and standard solutions. We feel HP's direction is a strong step in continuing the momentum in the growing deployment 802.11b networks," said Nick Kanopoulos, Director of Atmel's Multimedia Communications Product Group.

By offering a complete WLAN design, Atmel enables customers to reduce costs, accelerate time-to- market and Excellerate key performance metrics, such as receiver sensitivity, throughput and range versus leading competitive solutions. Atmel offers USB, Mini-PCI, PCMCIA, Compact Flash and Access Point reference designs developed to be a low-cost, complete solution to meet Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b) specifications. Complete reference designs centered on the Atmel's Media Access Controller (MAC) include firmware, software, WHQL qualified drivers, Wi-Fi certification, and utilities for regulatory certifications and production.

"After considering many options, HP chose the Atmel solution because of their leadership position in 802.11b USB Media Access Controller and their ability to provide a very high-performing, cost- competitive design that met our stringent space requirements. Additionally, Atmel's hardware and software engineering team was well suited to take upon the challenge of designing a custom solution to meet our requirements," said Cindy Box, Director of Marketing, HP Smart Handhelds.

About Atmel Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets worldwide, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system-level integration semiconductor solutions using CMOS, BiCMOS, SiGe, and high-voltage BCDMOS process technologies.

© Atmel Corporation 2002. All rights reserved. Atmel, the Atmel logo and combinations thereof are registered trademarks, and others contained herein are trademarks, of Atmel Corporation. Other terms and product names in this document may be the trademarks of others.

Information:
For further information on Atmel's Wireless LAN products, go to http://www.atmel.com/atmel/products/prod32.htm