Re: AC Getriebe Getriebe Hardware is the best Trojan for servives
"There is because as an x86 vendor you will be AWARE of the opportunity and be involved in it as you are tendering the hardware, whereas IBM will not be."
There is a big difference between being aware and being favored as a result of selling commodity electronics to the infrastructure team. If that were the case, Accenture, Deloitte, CapGem, CSC, etc would always be on the outside looking in, which they are not. These are two different businesses. Different buyers, different requirements, different skill sets. Not to mention, I don't think x86 server providers are aware of those projects before hand. It is not like any company asks their x86 server provider their opinion on which ERP they should implement or how to restructure their financial modeling operations. The consultancy works with the executives on the project.... months later they issue an RFP for some hardware to support it.
" According to SAP - you know, that whole big, business process software stuff - hp is their biggest partner, so your rectum is obviously wrong."
IBM is SAP's largest partner by a wide margin in services and across the board. They are an order of magnitude larger than HP. SAP was actually an IBM spin-off. Read Hasso Plattner's bio.
IBM is SAP's largest implementation partner. DB2 is their preferred DB which SAP dev teams work on with IBM. SAP is tightly integrated with WebSphere... to compete with Oracle. IBM systems, Power and z, run most of the largest SAP shops in the world. IBM has more SAP skilled employees than any company except for SAP themselves. IBM System x is even preferred by SAP for HANA, they use IBM for their own HANA implementation and managed HANA services.... I think the HP number you are referencing is the "joint customer" number. I am sure most SAP shops have HP printers or HP PCs or HP somewhere in their operations, but that doesn't mean that makes them more knowledgeable about SAP applications or providing unique technical advantages for SAP. HP just happens to be a hardware supplier in the account. HP also says they are Oracle's largest partner because 140,000, or whatever the number is, accounts that run Oracle applications also have some HP hardware somewhere, but HP and Oracle are hardly close partners.
"I have direct experience of seeing IBM Global Screwups trying to provides consulting services around non-IBM kit and it was a mess"
You seem to think IBM GS is a big player in hardware installation and integration. They rarely even touch the hardware.