Channel partners of Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) are under pressure to convince their customers to pick gear from one vendor or the other, rather than any combination that the customer might want, Jessica Davis writes in a post at eWeek's ChannelInsider blog. The two manufacturers are turning up the competitive heat, and some partners reportedly are feeling burned.

In one example (relayed by an anonymous source), a large organization with HP servers and Cisco switches was in the market for an upgrade of both. One of the vendors allegedly refused to go along with the deal and introduced an exclusive channel partner to try to outbid the vendor-agnostic partner. In the end, the original partner won and even convinced the customer not to buy an upgrade from the uncooperative vendor.

According to Davis, this type of partner squeezing is likely to get worse as Cisco and HP vie intensely for each other's customers.

For more:
- see Jessica Davis' post at eWeek

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