Comtek flies HP flag

by Stuart Wilson, Tuesday 23 February 2010

Pan-European IT repair services outfit Comtek is not holding back in expressing its support for HP

Pan-European IT repair services outfit Comtek is not holding back in expressing its support for HP as the vendor giant eyes the networking market. Comtek reckons that HP can capitalise on anti-Cisco sentiment to form new partnerships and take on networking giant Cisco. With HP’s recent acquisition of 3Com, Cisco has understandably taken a close look at its relationship with HP and taken away the vendor’s authorised dealer status.

In a statement, Comtek declared: “Comtek is urging HP to take advantage of current anti-Cisco sentiment and to form new partnerships with third-party IT support companies; this would enable HP to continue supporting its customers Cisco equipment, and to challenge Cisco’s networking market dominance.”

According to Comtek, HP will now be able to display greater flexibility as it goes to market, taking on Cisco directly when competing for business and ultimately allowing enterprises to benefit from lower prices and greater product choice.

Comtek notes that HP still has a responsibility to its many customers that are using Cisco products – their existing infrastructures could be compromised by a lack of technical support, equipment supply and repair options, unless HP makes a move now to gain access to alternate Cisco technical expertise and equipment spares.

“Many third-party support companies will welcome HP with open arms as they’re fed up of Cisco calling the shots and maintaining a stranglehold on the networking market,” said Askar Sheibani, CEO of Comtek.

“Cisco doesn’t want other companies supporting its legacy equipment and often actively discourages them from doing so. However, these are HP’s customers, and many will be worried that this fallout will make it harder to sustain the infrastructures that have underpinned their businesses for years,” Sheibani added.

“While Cisco may seek to shirk these responsibilities, we’re hopeful that HP won’t follow suit and will take steps to ensure that, where it lacks equipment or expertise, it’ll partner up to fill in the gaps and continue supporting its networking customers effectively,” Sheibani concluded.

Comtek is a pan-European provider of services and products to the network, datacomms, and telecommunications service industry, providing direct support to end-users. According to Comtek, customers are realising that IT products are capable of providing many years of useful service, and do not need to be regularly replaced with new equipment.

Comtek repairs hardware from multiple manufacturers including Cisco, Extreme Networks, Juniper, 3Com, Nortel, Foundry and many more. Comtek also sells and rents warranted refurbished hardware at budget friendly prices. The company has service centres located in England, Wales, Germany and Holland.