Monday, 16 February 2015

Gen8 is going End of Life – ACT NOW!

Are your customers late to transition to Gen9?
In the coming weeks Gen8 models will be going end of life, this means customers will no longer be able to order them. It is essential you act now to make sure any Gen8 customers transition to Gen9. Any technology transition presents an opportunity for customers to look at all options in the market - make sure you don’t lose your customer to the competition!

Call to action: Ensure you customers are aware that Gen8 is beginning to go end of life and assist them with the transition to the new platforms before the competition do it for you!



Call your Westcoast Account Manager today to discuss Gen9.

Friday, 30 January 2015

News Flash: HP is taking over the news with a 3PAR FLASH campaign, Friday 30th January and Saturday 31st January

A full page colour advert will be running in the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The i, The Evening Standard, City AM, The Scotsman and The Wall Street Journal this Friday, 30th January. Then also in the FT Weekend Edition on Saturday.
 
This advert is different: BIG, bold and intriguing!

This initiative is designed to support the great work our sales teams and Channel Partners are doing to push our flash proposition into customers and prospects.  The flash market is growing (and shifting) rapidly with a tremendous ramp up in HP 3PAR All-Flash Sales due to our best in class resiliency, scale, and affordability. 

Click on the image below to see the full advert...












For more information or if you need a 3PAR solution please get in contact with us and we will be happy to help.

Regards

Technical ISS Solutions Team  

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

NEWS: New HP announcement on firmware updates.

In February 2014, HP changed the way firmware updates and Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP) on HP ProLiant Server products were accessed:
  • Select server firmware on these products can only be accessed through the HP Support Center 
  • For customers with an active support agreement, HP Care Pack, or warranty linked to their HP Support Center User ID and for the specific products being updated. 

Impact of changes

What occurred on February 19, 2014
•    Entitlement validation required for  BIOS System ROMs and Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) firmware.

What’s new as of June 24, 2014
•    Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP) requires entitlement validation for access
•    SPP download sites will redirect you to HP Support Center (HPSC) for entitlement validation

Reminder – HPSC uses HP Passport account for validation.  You must link warranty or support agreement with your account.

If you have any questions or need a more information on support then please do not hesitate to contact your Westcoast account manager.

Regards

HP Technical EG Solutions Team   

Monday, 16 June 2014

VIDEO : Using Intelligent Management Center to satisfy HP's BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) requirements

During this video presentation, John Lino, Chief Network Architect, HP IT, and Jeff Sprankle, Wireless Architect, HP IT, will discuss HP's wireless transformation. You'll learn about the vital role the company's Intelligent Management Center played in creating a new user experience.



If you have any questions or need a solution surrounding BYOD then please do not hesitate to contact your Westcoast account manager.

Regards

HP Technical EG Solutions Team   

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

NEWS : HP Product Bulletin Migration


In order to provide consistent access to all HP marketing documents, HP Product Bulletin is being migrated into HP Document Library.  The addition of HP QuickSpecs from HP Product Bulletin into HP Document Library will provide a single point of access for over 80,000 pieces of HP marketing documents. HP Document Library provides an enhanced online and mobile experience for QuickSpecs by offering full text search, faceted navigation and with search results sorted by most popular documents.

Instructions for Migration:
  • QuickSpecs off-line access is enabled with the HP QuickSpecs Offline tool and leading cloud based tools such as Microsoft® Outlook, Evernote, Google Drive, and Microsoft® OneDrive.
  • To download HP QuickSpecs Offline Application, and access training videos for syncing with cloud based tools click here.
  • Online QuickSpecs can be found here
  • For quick access to product prices access the quick quote tool click here
  • To find product images click here (registration required)

The current HP Product Bulletin will be discontinued on May 23rd and will no longer be updated.
For feedback and questions please visit the QuickSpecs support forum here.

Regards

HP Technical EG Solutions Team   

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

NEWS : HP Carepacks are changing! - Foundation Care.

As we all know HP care packs can be confusing at the best of times, there are so many different levels of support these days it can be difficult to select one.

HP have now introduced a simpler way of offering support - Foundation Care.


















Now there are only 5 options for support.
  • Foundation Care Call to repair
  • Foundation Care 24x7
  • Foundation Care NBD
  • Foundation Care 4 hour exchange
  • Foundation Care NBD exchange.

For the meantime the standard carepack options will still be available and the new Foundation care options will run along side until September 2014, this is when the standard carepacks will go EOL and Foundation care will take over.

If you have any questions on Foundation Care then please contact your Westcoast account manager and they will be able to provide more information.

Regards

Westcoast EG Solutions Team  

Thursday, 1 May 2014

May 2014 - HP Server, Storage and Networking offers

In order for you to have your own copy of this months offers, We offer them in a easy downloadable PDF for you. This month many of HP's fantastic Storage and Networking promotions have been extended!









Please click the image above to open the PDF for more details.

Regards

HP Technical EG Solutions Team   

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Westcoast alerts channel partners to Herculean HP IMC opportunity

Want to make more margin and create closer relationships with customers that have mixed network environments? HP Intelligent Management Centre is for you. We are trying to increase the awareness of HP IMC and how it can be beneficial to you and your customers.

What is IMC?? Launched in July last year, the HP Intelligent Management Centre (IMC) is unique in the market in that it provides one single console for management of heterogeneous network environments including over 1200 Cisco products. Highly scalable, the solution has the capacity to manage 10,000’s of devices and help overcome pressing network challenges associated with projects like virtualisation and BYOD. The technology puts HP as one of the forerunners in solutions for the Software Defined Network (SDN). At the heart of this is HP’s Virtual Application Networks (VAN’s) which allow rapid deployment of applications and virtual environments through a simple management strategy. Using the Intelligent Management Centre software, organisations can manage all three layers of SDN architecture: infrastructure, control and application.

Paul Kember (Channel Director) at HP commented “from a single pane of glass an end-user can manage their entire network infrastructure – both wired and wireless. Having a single-tool means problems can be tracked down and resolved quickly, which results in 61% less downtime for the average customer! With VAN’s (Virtual Application Networks) applications can be deployed in a literally a few clicks by bridging the gap between Virtual Machine orchestration and Network connectivity”.

Speaking on the solution Wesley Lawrance which is our HP Business Manager here at Westcoast states “Westcoast and HP have seen a lot of success around the solution. We believe that there is a significant opportunity for HP partners to satisfy a genuine business challenge and deploy a very profitable solution in tandem. Almost every customer will have a mixed network and with a patchwork quilt of technology from edge to core they end up with too many tools to make management of the overall network efficient or effective. This tool does for networks what virtualisation has done for infrastructure”.

We have created a novel graphic for partners to better understand the capabilities of the technology. It proposes that deploying the technology will help Network Managers achieve network immortality, likening the challenges these people toil with to the mythical legend of Hercules and the conquest of the 12 labours.


For partners interested in knowing more about the solution, We invite you all to see it in action at one of our demonstration labs across the UK. For non-HP partners we are able to fast-track those wishing to join the HP channel with support covering sales, technical and marketing.

If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards

Westcoast EG Solutions Team  

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

NEWS : Announcement concerning Installation and Start Up Care Pack Services for 3PAR StoreServ 7000 Systems

From the 1st April onwards any 3PAR StoreServ 7000 solution will be required to have HP Installation and Start up, there will be no option to remove this.*

This is so all of HP's customers from Resellers to end users can have maximum benefit and support from HP when purchasing HP 3PAR Storage system. This will ensure a good customer experience from the start.

The reason for this change is that there have been issues reported due to poor installations with regards installation of the 3PAR units which is outside of HP's control and this causes issues when it comes to customer service and support on the product.

This change is to greatly benefit you and your customer moving forward. If you have any questions with regards to HP's Installation and Start up service please do not hesitate to contact your Westcoast account manager for more details.

Regards

Westcoast EG Solutions Team  

* Unless you are an accredited HP ServiceOne Partner.

April 2014 - HP Server, Storage and Networking offers

In order for you to have your own copy of this months offers, We offer them in a easy downloadable PDF for you. This month many of HP's fantastic Storage and Networking promotions have been extended!









Please click the image above to open the PDF for more details.

Regards

HP Technical EG Solutions Team   

Monday, 17 February 2014

HP Proactive Care & Insight Remote Support - How Important?

Insight Remote Support is critical to the success of a Proactive Care Solution and must be installed by customers who have purchased a Proactive Care Solution in order for them to enable the full suite of Proactive features. If Insight Remote Support is not installed your customer will not receive the full Proactive Care Service from HP.

Every Proactive Care Solution is entitled to 8 hours of remote support from HP that will help with the installation of Insight Remote Support.

When Insight Remote Support is installed it enables the Proactive Care Core features;
  • Quarterly Call reporting
  • Bi Annual Firmware & Software reviews
  • The Proactive Technology Scan

These features give tangible business benefits including...
  • 40% faster call resolution 
  • Enables a 95% first time fix rate
  • 50% Elimination of problems

Please work with your end users to help them understand the importance of IRS (Insight remote support) by communicating the above benefits of Proactive Care and encourage them to initiate the 8 hours of remote assistance HP provides in order to install IRS.

If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards

Westcoast EG Solutions Team 

Friday, 14 February 2014

NEWS : HP ProLiant firmware updates access change

HP are changing the way firmware updates and SSP will be accessed, This will Start in February 2014. Select server firmware on these products will only be accessed through the HP Support Center to Customers with an active support agreement, HP CarePack, or warranty linked to their HP Support Center User ID and for the specific products being updated. 

HP Support material was always provided as part of the terms of a customer’s support contract with HP, usually via Warranty periods or contractual obligations, such as Care Packs and support contacts.  HP terms stated an eligibility requirement for support was purchase of the product and a support agreement for the product.  The only change being implemented is that website access will now align with those restrictions that have always been there.  The fact that HP previously chose to make our support material available publicly through our hp.com website, without checking the entitlement of the user, doesn’t negate nor invalidate the eligibility requirement.

We encourage you to review your current support coverage to ensure you maintain uninterrupted access to firmware updates and SPP for your ProLiant products.

If you need to obtain support coverage, please do not hesitate to contact your account manager at Westcoast.

Regards

Westcoast EG Solutions Team