HP’s chief executive Mark Hurd pledged to increase partner opportunities during his keynote speech at the vendor’s EMEA Preferred Partner Conference in San Francisco.

Thanking the EMEA channel for its contribution to helping the vendor achieve £104bn turnover in its last financial year, Hurd said the plan was for even more growth this year.

“There is no way we could have done that without your [partners] help,” he said. “I know we don’t do everything perfectly and we don’t do everything great, but you all have my thanks and appreciation.”

Hurd said the market is worth $1.2 trillion and at the moment HP’s products and services covers 50 per cent of that market.

“Why shouldn’t we go after the other 50 per cent?” he said. “We think we have the best products and services on planet Earth, but we need even more help from our partners. We don’t necessarily need more partners, but what we really want is more dedication. That doesn’t mean you have to be exclusive with HP. We are going to try and get our go to market right and make it simpler for you to do business with us.”

Hurd added that the vendor will continue investing heavily in R&D and do everything in its power to stay at the top.

“We will do everything we can that is not illegal or unethical to help partners win every deal they can,” he added.

He claimed that HP understood the need for simplification, since he took over the helm, the vendor has reduced the number of applications it uses from 6,000 to 3,000 and is ‘well on its way to 1,500’.

“HP is demanding nothing,” he cautioned. “We are just looking for true ‘in the game’ partners that want to go and create the best go to market strategy in the sector. We will continue to invest marketing dollars to support you.”