Hewlett-Packard figuratively limped into Las Vegas for its Global Partner Conference, still suffering from the hangover of the 2011 management debacle. CEO Meg Whitman, her management team and a raft of new products and channel initiatives have lifted the dark cloud hanging over the vaunted vendor.

At the VMware Partner Exchange in Las Vegas, vendors across all technology segments are craning to showcase how their hardware and software support or enhance VMware’s virtualization tools. The goal is acceleration and expansion of channel programs and penetration of existing accounts.

The unexpected announcement that former CA CEO John Swainson is heading to Dell to head up a new software unit surprised many in the technology market and channel. What shouldn’t come as a surprise are Dell’s ambitions to become a portfolio technology company. The challenge: Getting partners to recognize the value of the portfolio.

Symantec is reassuring partners that its line of backup appliances will be unaffected by its joint-venture Huawei Technologies’ shut down. Hardware, Symantec says, is a growing part of its portfolio.

Huawei Symantec has all but shut down its U.S. operations to clear the way for the purchase of its assets by its parent company, Huawei Technologies. Officially, the company remains open until March, but partners are already being supported by offshore offices and a skeleton crew in California.