HP & Iran "Whats the deal"?

All kidding aside, I've read many articles about HP having dominating the printer Market in Iran. They key is HP is not selling to a distributor in Iran, they are selling to Redington Gulf in Dubai (I would love to sell systems in Dubai)!

Farrah Stockman from The Boston Globe wrote the this H-P's Iran connection Here's an excerpt from here article;

"If American executives at H-P cut the deal knowing the printers were destined for Iran, it would be in violation of the law, sanctions specialists said. But despite the crackdown on U.S. companies that sell their products in Iran, some American firms whose products are sold through third-party distributors like Redington Gulf have avoided scrutiny."

My thoughts, I took a visit to Redingtons web site. What I really wanted to check into is the replacement policy for parts and systems. Since Redington is a distributor and not the manufacturer does that mean that parts and or replacements printers would come from HP.

Here's another excerpt from The Boston Globe Article; "An H-P spokeswoman declined to say how much the company knows about its printers' popularity in Iran, offering only a statement that H-P has "a policy of complete compliance with all U.S. export laws."

I'm always worried when some declines to say how much the company knows.

So, whats the end result here, HP sold the printer to Redington Gulf and they sold them in Iran, not a big deal, unless someone at HP new they were going there in advance, then it's a big deal. But how are the parts and replacements handled, it its direct from HP, is there a problem then? How about support does the distributor handle this also? Well, I got my answer to this question;

In addition, Redington offers authorised spare parts for certain brands through Cadensworth FZE. Cadensworth, a subsidiary of Redington Gulf, is the Authorised Parts Resellers (APR) for Hewlett Packard (HP) and Fujitsu Siemens (FSC) in the Middle East and Africa. Based in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Cadensworth has a state-of-the-art warehouse with advanced logistics systems managed by a professional team. Working in close co-operation with reputed forwarders like Aramex, DHL, TNT etc., Cadensworth has established itself as an efficient Spare Parts Supply Chain Management Company in the region.

From looking at their web site Redington has 33 Partner Service Centers and one main service center in Iran, they also have 13 Partner Service Centers in Egypt.

This is another paragraph from the Boston Globe: "In 1997, two years after former President Bill Clinton banned trade with Iran, H-P struck a partnership with a newly formed company in Dubai to sell its products in the Middle East. At the time, the company, called Redington Gulf, had only three employees and its sole purpose was to "sell H-P supplies to the Iran market," according to a history on Redington Gulf's Web site and Rajesh Chandragiri, administrative manager in Redington Gulf's Dubai office."

Is it a big ado about nothing, sure seems like it or as Sargent Shultz would say "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!"

-=Good Selling=-

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