GE division acquires HP 3000 distributor IAC

GE division acquires
HP 3000 distributor IAC

HP 3000 distributor Integration Alliance Corp. (IAC) became part of a firm larger than Hewlett-Packard in March, when the Capital IT Solutions arm of General Electric acquired one of the two distributors of HP 3000s. “It’s going to be good for the HP community,” said IAC’s Ross Duncan, one of the company’s founders and its VP of services and software. “It’s going to give the 3000 community somebody who cares about the HP 3000 and is big.”

IAC became the latest acquisition of GE’s $3 billion computer distribution group, following GE’s purchase of Sun supplier Access Graphics last fall. IAC said it will retain its HP focus and continue to evangelize for HP 3000 resellers. It will share backoffice operations with Access “where it makes sense,” Duncan said. IAC was patterned after Access Graphics’ focus on a single supplier when it was founded in 1994.

The distributor also reported it hired Ted Burns, formerly at 3000 distributor Client Systems, as its new HP Server Products manager. IAC’s VP of operations Chris Joseph and CEO Bruce Smith are leaving the firm as part of the transaction; Virginia Livingston remains as VP of marketing. Livingston, Duncan and Burns were founding partners at Client Systems before the first two left to form IAC.

IAC now represents GE – the world’s only company with a larger capitalization than Microsoft – as its HP division.