Antoine Barre has taken over as vice president of Hewlett Packard's channel organisation in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Barre is not a completely new face to the channel. He previously headed up HP's Personal Systems Group in both Europea and the US, and brings with him 15 years of Compaq and HP sales and marketing experience.

Senior vice president at HP PSG EMEA, Eric Cador welcomed Barre's appointment, saying in a statement: "His in-depth understanding of HP across the board, and the channel's great importance to us, makes him the right person for the job."

Barre replaces Jos Brenkel who had played a critical role in drumming up channel business after the merger of HP and Compaq.

Brenkel will now be PSG vice president and general manager for the Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa regions.®