Network giant Cisco has informed Hewlett-Packard (HP) that it will not be renewing the latter's system integrator contract when it expires at the end of April. As such, HP will no longer be commissioned as a channel or global service partner, and will not be eligible for rebates and other incentives.

This caps off a year in which both companies have increasingly encroached on each other's product lines. For example, Cisco last year unveiled a server system to push a new Unified Computing System that competed directly with HP. On the other hand, HP went acquired rival networking company 3Com in November.

In a video statement, Keith Goodwin, senior vice president of Cisco's Worldwide Partner Organization summed up the reason HP was dropped, "Being a Cisco Certified Channel Partner has numerous benefits, including access to proprietary information, such as product road maps and partner profitability initiatives. Given the evolution of our relationship, it simply no longer makes sense to provide these benefits to HP."

For more on this story:
- check out the article at eWeek
- check out the article at The Wall Street Journal 

Related Articles:
Cisco unveils rackmount servers to complete datacenter lineup
HP buys 3Com for $2.7 billion
HP maintains number-one position worldwide
10 biggest tech mergers and acquisitions of 2009