Stéphan Wener, chief customer officer at Compugen
Recorded on-site at HPE Discover in Las Vegas, this episode of In The Channel features Stéphan Wener, chief customer officer at Compugen, one of Canada’s most established HPE partners.
It was a big week for Compugen at Discover. The company achieved Triple Platinum Plus status under HPE’s Partner Ready Vantage program — the highest tier available, reflecting deep investment across compute, networking, storage, and security — and was named HPE Canada Solution Provider of the Year at the Partner Growth Summit on Monday.
Wener credits the recognition to consistent, long-term investment in the full HPE portfolio and what he describes as genuine “exec-to-field” engagement with the HPE Canada team. But the conversation moves quickly from celebrating to analyzing — and that’s where it gets useful for Canadian partners.
His take on HPE’s evolution is direct: “It’s not anymore a compute-led company. I think it’s an AI technology-led company, but with a big focus on networking.” He sees the Aruba acquisition as having already delivered strong returns for both sides, and the Juniper integration as filling the data centre gap to create what he calls a genuine “powerhouse” networking portfolio — a view that aligns with what Antonio Neri laid out in Tuesday’s keynote but carries different weight coming from the partner side.
On the Canadian market, Wener flags two converging trends: data sovereignty concerns continuing to push customers — especially in the public sector and regulated industries — toward on-premises and edge deployments, and the economics of cloud-based AI creating a second wave of on-prem investment as the cost of tokens at scale starts to sting.
The “Power of One” program consolidation? Compugen has been asking for it for a couple of years and welcomes it — with the candid observation that the compute and networking sales motions are still distinct, and that closing that gap in practice will take ongoing work.
And on self-driving networks and the automation question: Wener is a believer — but as an Air Canada Super Elite, he has some pointed thoughts about where the human layer still matters.
Read Full Transcript
ROBERT DUTT: This episode of In The Channel is brought to you by HPE Discover 2026. Check out our full coverage of the event on ChannelBuzz.ca. You’ll find our HPE Discover 2026 news hub in the menu bar at the top of the page.
Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show.
We’re recording this one on-site at HPE Discover in Las Vegas, and if you’ve been following our coverage from the event, you know it’s been a full one. Big keynote from Antonio Neri on Tuesday, a lot of networking announcements from Rami Rahim and the HPE networking team, the Partner Growth Summit on Monday, where HPE laid out some significant program changes, most notably the coming unification of the Juniper Partner Program under Partner Ready Vantage by November 1.
My guest for this episode is Stéphan Wener, chief customer officer at Compugen. Compugen is one of Canada’s largest and most prominent HPE partners. They just achieved Triple Platinum Plus status under the Partner Ready Vantage program, which is the highest tier available under HPE’s partner program, reflecting deep investment across compute, networking, storage and security. And at the Partner Growth Summit earlier this week, they were named HPE Canada Solution Provider of the Year. So yeah, it’s been a pretty good week to be Compugen in Las Vegas.
I sat down with Stéphan to talk about the story behind that recognition, how Compugen sees the evolution of the HPE portfolio, especially now that it includes both Aruba and Juniper, and what’s actually resonating in the Canadian market right now around AI infrastructure, data sovereignty, and the economics of running AI workloads in the cloud versus at the edge. There’s also a moment in here about self-driving networks that any Air Canada Super Elite will relate to.
Let’s get right into it. My chat with Stéphan Wener.
ROBERT DUTT: Stéphan, thank you for taking the time.
STÉPHAN WENER: [It’s my] pleasure.
ROBERT DUTT: Big week for Compugen here at Discover. You were named HPE Canada Solution Provider of the Year. Separately, just announced Triple Platinum Plus status under Partner Ready Vantage. That’s the highest tier, as if the name didn’t give that away, right? Tell me the Compugen-HPE story that led here. When you think about why you’ve ended up at this point, what do you credit it to?
STÉPHAN WENER: I would say it’s a long-term engagement. We’ve been really connected. It’s important, if you want to succeed with the OEM, it’s all about connection from the execs to the field. I think our sales resources are really well-engaged with HPE’s sales resources. It’s really a teamwork. The results are all around this collaboration. It’s all about also bringing common value to the customer. We’re working very closely, making sure that we are doing the right thing and growing the business.
Being Partner of the Year was actually a surprise, but one element is we’re really engaged in the entire portfolio of HPE. HPE is a different company right now. We were dealing with Aruba in the past and HPE and all this, now being one portfolio. The fact that we are engaged with all lines of business really helps us out, taking it to another level. Having this recognition is great. It’s great for us. It’s great for our teams because there’s a lot of people trained on the technology. There’s a lot of investment we’re making internally, both on the technical side but also on the sales side. We have BDR motions. We have a lot of engagement commonly with HPE. I think it’s really the combination of all these actions that made us successful.
We have to thank the HPE team in Canada as well because we don’t win this award by ourselves. It’s really by working very closely with them. The Triple Platinum is a commitment to HPE. We believe that Compugen with HPE can provide great solutions to the market and we want to bring this engagement to another level. We’re also very proud. It was a lot of work on the technical side to be able to ramp up to this level, both on the compute, same thing on the networking side, security. So it’s the entire portfolio.
ROBERT DUTT: To that point, the entire portfolio — some listeners may still think of HPE primarily as a server company, a server and storage company with networking kind of on the side. Can you walk me through what the HPE relationship actually looks like at Compugen today in terms of how you work with each part of that business, and how’s that picture changed over the last couple of years?
STÉPHAN WENER: I would say HPE is a different company because they kept for a very long time Aruba and the compute side and the networking side separately. You can really feel now that it’s more one company. I actually feel, and Antonio said it today, the networking piece with AI is a big, big part of the strategy right now. So the fact that now networking and compute and storage, all the technology is really evolving in one big channel. It’s really changing what HPE is. It’s not anymore a compute-led company. I think it’s an AI technology-led [company], but a big focus on networking, especially in an AI world. Networking is key for all organizations.
And I think specifically, Aruba was already a great company. That was a great acquisition. For all of us — I’m a shareholder of HPE — I can say that for the shareholders, the acquisition of Aruba was amazing, very profitable. But adding Juniper to the mix, it fills the gap. Data centre, DC — it was more campus and branch with Aruba. Now it’s really, really a powerhouse. So networking is definitely… you don’t make these type of investments as a company if you don’t believe that networking is a big part of your future. And already the Aruba part was one of the most profitable pieces of the business. In the years where compute was struggling a little bit more on the profit side, now, okay, HPE is having a great year with all AI and the shortage and all this. It’s great. But I think now HPE [has] a complete portfolio of technology, and that’s what makes it very appealing to the market right now, in my opinion.
ROBERT DUTT: On that profitability point, what is having that unified networking story doing for you guys in terms of margin opportunity and that sort of thing?
STÉPHAN WENER: I would say HPE would love us to leverage both sides of the portfolio. It’s still two different sales motion[s], let’s call it out. The compute and storage is one element, the network is on the other [end]. I think profit comes with investment. Compugen is a service-led company. So a lot of our sales motion is based on leading with our services, our managed services, our professional services. So we can have great margin when we are leading with our services. So technology with services, it’s the best. We even deliver — we do partner-branded support on the behalf of HPE, so really engage as one company. This is where we maximize our profitability.
Again, I know because I’ve been hearing it and hearing it from the leaders, that we would like to lead more with the entire portfolio now. I think it makes a lot of sense as a strategy. Let’s see how we can accomplish and deliver on this because I still see that it’s two different business needs. The networking and security is one element and the compute and storage and all the tools around it are another motion technology-wise.
ROBERT DUTT: Well, a big step towards that I suppose was announced yesterday at the Partner Growth Summit. The big theme being “Power of One” — one portfolio, one partner program, one integrated partner experience, a whole bunch of stuff changing as of November 1. From where you sit, is that message landing with you as a partner? What does consolidating under one program actually mean for how you go to market and how you work with HPE?
STÉPHAN WENER: I should add my colleague, Lorene, to the discussion. She deals with them. But to be honest with you, we’ve been waiting for this moment for a while. It was a question we asked them for a couple of years actually, saying, “Listen, we see these two programs. We took the best of both programs because we were having large volume with both sides of the business.” But I think having something unified, that makes a lot of sense, and it’s going to bring more opportunity. It’s also going to reward partners that are invested with HPE. That’s what we like about this program: with this Platinum, Triple Platinum Plus certification, we’re rewarded for the investment we’re making, which is I think something that really resonates for some of us partners.
The other element, to be honest, the go-to-market is going to be evolving with time. AI is transforming everything that is happening. So having one program, I think it’s putting HPE in a position that we can leverage all the success we can have on the market.
No, I think it’s great news. We’ve been seeing it coming. Now it’s there. It’s still two teams because we’re still interacting with people on compute. We still have two PBMs. We’re still on a service, partner-branded support discussion around the table a little earlier. Now they’re coming with a program that’s going to be one partner-branded support. Juniper had one, Aruba had one, and now all of a sudden HPE wants to have their own. So on the compute side, they’re going to come with one program, which makes it better because it’s going to allow us to have a better ROI on our investment moving forward.
ROBERT DUTT: Today was Antonio Neri.
ROBERT DUTT: Keynote. “Architecting AI starts with the network.” Pretty deliberate framing. From where you’re sitting and when you’re talking to Canadian organizations day to day, does the premise ring true? Are customers coming to you and saying that the network is the constraint, or is the conversation starting somewhere else? And maybe you discover along the way, “By the way, if you want to get the most out of this, you’re probably going to have to do something with the state of your network.”
STÉPHAN WENER: I would say, yes, customers are looking at the network. I think it’s something that I think HPE but other OEM[s] are wishing, that AI transform[s] the network because it’s a good way to kind of, let’s say, let’s refresh these networks. Let’s make sure to create opportunity.
I would say, on top of network, I’m really attracted by the security side of it, which means with AI — I was with a customer at lunch today because also we have multiple hats, we meet customers while we’re here — and he was sharing with me that the challenge they live with security, with this AI motion that we see right now, with this new AI world where now it’s not about traditional security. You know, you can get attacked from all over the place. So I think this is going to change the way customers see their network and they’re going to make sure to secure it, but also integrate performance, security, evolution for AI. Because again, you’re building something now. You don’t know what AI is going to be in a year and a half. That’s like — I was actually talking to some customers and we were saying, you know, you have to revise your AI strategy every quarter, every month, because you’re starting somewhere and then, oh, you’re figuring out that there’s another business need that needs to go quicker. So there’s a lot of unknown where it’s going to take us.
I think [Antonio] making the right decisions on the network, it’s brilliant for Antonio. And again, when you do a $15 billion investment, okay, you’re going to say this to the market, but I mean, it’s a strength. It’s the strength of HP. If you look at competition, HP has a broader portfolio and being able to lead on the network security side and AI network and all that is brilliant. Now let’s see how the market takes it.
I think the AI discussion is not exactly the same depending on where the customer is in his journey. Some of them are more focused on “where do I put my compute?” What we really see now is that it’s not only cloud only anymore. The move back to on-prem is for real now. And we’ve been saying it, we’ve been dreaming it for a while, you know, because it allows us to have more opportunity to… like, to put AI not only on-prem, but also at the edge. We see that coming more and more. So I think the discussion is broader because again, if you go at the edge, it’s all different architecture for networking. You need to protect multiple sites, you know, so… there’s a lot of moving pieces, but I think HP has everything to cover that very well.
ROBERT DUTT: When you’re talking to customers today in Canada, what are the big drivers of that move towards the edge and that kind of thing? Just curious how you’re hearing customers weighing data sovereignty versus tokenomics, the big topic of the day.
STÉPHAN WENER: There’s two different discussion[s] there. The one part is that — because we do a lot of business in banking and retail and all of this — we have a lot of customers that are looking at the edge. And to be honest, what we were observing a couple of years ago was that they all thought that they didn’t need anything at the edge anymore. “Let’s centralize everything. Let’s go to the cloud. Let’s use VMware. Let’s not even [have] the server at the edge. Let’s just figure out other ways to manage it.” Now we see a total[ly] different direction. Now, customers are realizing that you need to perform a lot of stuff at the edge. So it’s forcing a lot of organization[s] to revisit their plan. So that’s… disruptive when you have… when you had a plan two years ago or five years ago and now you have to revisit it to do it a bit differently. But I mean, I think everyone realizes that you need to run a lot of stuff at the edge right now. AI is one thing, but there’s so many other application[s] that are not really [running] really well in the cloud, you know, security cameras and all of that. So we see a big shift towards having more compute at the edge. But also you need networking to back this up because if you start breaking up, so it creates a lot of opportunities.
When you have customers looking [at this], also the explosion of cost of AI. Because if you run all your models in the cloud, it’s highly expensive. So some customers are realizing that for some specific business outcome or business needs, they better run it at the edge because it becomes more economical.
I think that was ramping up pretty heavily and it’s really exploded since that [news of the] $500 million [monthly] tokens [bill] came public.
And it’s funny, we hear because we have a lot of our people involved in AI, talking with different OEM[s], and I don’t know what’s going to be the end of the future model. You know, these tokens are one element, but there’s going to be competition there, too. You know, it’s never, at the end of the day, they’re all playing in one field where there’s going to have to [be] competition and not… it’s not going to be unlimited token[s] and paying that forever because of the cost. It’s the same thing with the cloud, you know, running AI in the cloud for some large organization[s]. It’s costly. So they have no choice [but] to look at alternatives because, yes, you have business value when you run an AI model that addresses a business need, but at which cost? It’s always the question. You know, where all these customers are running businesses. So they need to make decisions accordingly.
ROBERT DUTT: In this moment, for whatever reasons, it may be regulation, general interest in data sovereignty. How do you find data sovereignty is weighing amongst [your customers]?
STÉPHAN WENER: It’s big in Canada, especially. Let’s call it out. You know, we’re a Canadian business partner. It’s a big, big subject, sovereignty, both in provincial jurisdiction and also in the country. There’s multiple ways. We all have different options of sovereign [cloud], but also some customers are also rethinking what kind of data do we want to keep to ourselves? This is why there’s a bit [of] turning around to co-location or having on-premise, just because [of] you want to control some of your data.
It’s always… there’s always a cautious side to which extent do I think that everything in the cloud is going to be in sovereign cloud in Canada one day? I don’t think so because I think… Azure, all the cloud providers are now having data center[s] in the country. So they found ways to kind of say[ing] that their cloud is also sovereign in a certain way because it’s located in Canada. So they found ways because they don’t want to lose all this market. So they had to have no choice but to go with the flow and figure out a way to address this element. But yeah, it’s definitely a big [topic]. No one wants to send data anywhere in the cloud without controlling where it resides. That’s a very important [consideration], even more in public sector and regulated [industries] in Canada. In Canada, public sector is a big, big part of the business and they are regulated and they have no choice but to follow this very closely. And I think it’s the same in the U.S. as well. We have a lot of discussion with U.S. peers and there’s also this tendency even from state to state, you know, and that there’s like… you never know, you know, there’s all these stories you hear about where’s your data going. You know, the value your data has. A lot of value. These organization[s] know that now. It’s all start[ing] there because you cannot have AI without having the right data.
ROBERT DUTT: Today’s presentation from Rami Rahim was mostly about self-driving networks, AI-native, agentic, experience-driven operations, a whole new way of thinking about running the network. It’s a compelling vision. Where’s that at when you’re selling to, say, a 500-person mid-market company?
STÉPHAN WENER: It’s great. I would say even enterprise. It’s just, in my opinion, it’s just the beginning. I think it’s great, and it’s really a great vision of HP with Juniper and all that to have that self-[driving capability]. We’ve been hearing about it for a couple of years, but now it’s really for real.
I [think], in my opinion, it’s just the beginning because they are going to accelerate that, they’re going to figure out ways to be even more proactive about the network and having more powerful tools. I think it has a lot to do, especially with the SMB and the smaller customers who have a hard time having technical resources to support them. So that’s a big [win]. But on the other side, I always say automation is great, but you always need human[s]. So it’s also a great opportunity for us partners that are delivering a lot of managed services because we’re able to leverage these tools to deliver, to add this little layer where they don’t want to just have a self-[driving] solution that nobody’s going to look at. You know, it’s like you have a dashboard. Somebody needs to keep an eye on the dashboard. So I think it’s also going to change the way we deliver services. So as a service organization, we’re really transforming, leveraging AI as customer zero. So I think it forces us business partners that deliver managed services to our customers to… adjust the way we deliver services to leverage these tools and just add that human layer that is needed.
I still believe in AI. We’re looking at it internally and we have a bunch of initiatives. It’s never going to replace totally human because at the end of the day, especially when you have a customer at the end, because the customer experience is very important. So you cannot just decide that you automate the way you answer the phone. See, I was telling [and] giving the example today: I’m [with] an airline that I’m a Super Elite with, Air Canada. I don’t want to call the 1-800 number and be asked 24 questions. I’m very happy because my nicest perk with Air Canada is, I think, a concierge line where I can call as a Super Elite member and somebody’s answering the phone and they’re changing my ticket in three minutes and I don’t have to press one and two and five and six. So in a way, I’m just giving you this example because I, as a user, there’s a frustration with AI. So I think it’s very important to leverage AI, but keep that human touch that you need to complete the CX at the end of the day.
ROBERT DUTT: So is that the pitch that lands then — the idea that we can take some cost out of operating the network by automating a lot, but we’re still going to have that trust. But we can…
STÉPHAN WENER: I think we can do more with less. I think it’s all about bringing even more value to our customer and leveraging these tools. It’s a must. You know, we see it all over the place in our service organization. We see it on the field services where we have to use this intelligence to be more effective. And I was… I can call it out, it’s like I was with an airline for lunch. That’s why it’s all in my head. And they’re using AI for maintenance because they said it’s so powerful because the data is amazing. All these manuals about the aircrafts and everything, so you can document this with also other tickets they had and they can give instruction to the maintenance team and they save them. They’re telling them it’s either A or B before they add ABCD and they were doing try and try out. So they’re way more effective.
So I’m just saying AI is helping us doing more with less, being better at what we do. But I mean, you still need to leverage it the right way. You need to have human intelligence behind and bring the value around it. That’s my [view], my opinion about AI.
And in the case of what Rami said and where Juniper is going, all these tools are amazing. But I think it’s important. Customers are going to leverage it. They’re going to be able to do more with less, too. But I think for the mid-market type of customers, it’s more important for us business partners to add these services to our portfolio and be able to complete the service offering of HP, HP, Juniper and Aruba, or whatever HP networking [is called] now. More services, always a win. That’s what to do.
ROBERT DUTT: We’ve covered a lot of territory. I’m curious. What else have you taken away from this week? When you’re going back and meeting with your teammates, what’s going to be the thing that goes, “Hey guys, did you think about or did you hear about…?”
STÉPHAN WENER: I would say it’s the broad portfolio that HP has to bring to the market right now. And the fact that, you know, it was amazing to see all these announcement[s] about HP [and] the new tools, the way they are, the evolution of Central, the evolution of Mist. I think HP now, after these big acquisition[s], [is] getting their act together. And I think they’re one of the best OEM[s] ready… to be ready for AI. They’re all saying it because all our team members are going to Cisco and all that, and they all have a message around AI. I think it’s a must in this industry right now. But I’m telling you, as an experienced [partner], as a technology ally that we are at Compugen, we see that HP has a real story and they’re really doing the right thing to be a key player in this AI transformation that we see right now.
So I think the value HP brings, all the tools around… there’s multiple examples to give. But I think the portfolio, the engineering, you know, Antonio is an engineer at the end of the day. And Antonio’s vision is about integrating the solution and doing the right thing so we can bring the right set of solution to the market. And I think we can feel it now that this is all getting together nicely, adding the building blocks that are missing to the offering. But HP is really [positioned] to be a strong partner for all customers in this AI journey. That’s what I see.
ROBERT DUTT: Last question. What should partners and customers of yours who aren’t here this week take away from what’s been announced, what’s been discussed here? If you’re updating a customer on what you’ve learned here, what’s the headline you’re going with?
STÉPHAN WENER: I would say one thing I was impressed [by]. I feel, and again, I’m on the partner advisory board of HP Networking. So I’m going to see tomorrow what they say. But I have a feeling that the transition of bringing HPE, Aruba and Juniper is going quicker than expected. I think they’re doing a very good job at it. And that’s going to create a very good motion. So I would say that’s a powerhouse now when you put Juniper and HPE Aruba together.
So I think for all customers, I see HP like a very strong dominant player in the future in that networking and security space. So the fact that this integration seems to go very smoothly and rapidly, I think is going to have a very positive impact on the market. That’s one element I see.
Again, I love what I see, all these announcements about compute and storage and all these AI-ready solution[s]. That’s also, again, what I would take back. It’s all [about]: if you need help in AI, HP has a solution for you. That’s pretty much what I would say to customers: wherever you need to invest because they’re not all investing at the same area. Some of them, it’s only the network and they decided to do it in the cloud and they’re going to do it in the cloud. Some others are looking at different models.
So that’s my biggest takeaway: where HP is as a portfolio right now and the role it can play on all customers’ AI journey. Considering the attention on AI, [it’s] pretty good, to be honest with you. But again, AI is also driving a lot of other transformation. It drives the way customers are looking at their IT services because again, I was talking to [another] customer yesterday. If you have to invest in AI, they’re not going to tell you, “Hire 20 more employees to do your AI.” They’re going to say, “Listen, figure out a way to do your AI with the staff you have.” So if I’m a CIO, the way I’m going to look at it, I’m going to say, “Listen, I’m going to need help elsewhere. If I’m able to allocate a certain number of my resources working on AI, I’m going to need business partners to perform some IT services on my behalf.”
So it creates an amazing opportunity for us business partners, not only the AI journey itself, but the fact that they have no choice but to kind of reinvent the way they’re providing their services, because nothing changes: you still have users, you still have infrastructure, you still have to keep the lights on and run your business. So this is something I see a lot: AI is transforming the way they look at where they’re going next. Because they’re not going to have an explosion of cost, especially now with what we are experiencing in supplies and the price increase. They still have to do the same with the same money a lot of time. So they need to reinvent themselves to figure out a way to meet their budgets and meet their business outcomes.
ROBERT DUTT: Good luck on helping many customers, man.
STÉPHAN WENER: We will do it. And our goal is to do it as a team with HPE. We got the title for 2025 and we want to do what’s best to make sure we do it for 2026 as well.
ROBERT DUTT: Good luck with that. And thank you again for taking the time.
STÉPHAN WENER: My pleasure.
ROBERT DUTT: There you have it. Stéphan Wener from Compugen. I’d like to thank Stéphan for his time on what was a very busy week at HPE Discover and a very successful one for Compugen. If you’ve been following the news from the event on the site, you now got a pretty complete picture of HPE Discover from a few different angles: the preview with Jeremiah Jenson, the partner program announcement deep dive on Tuesday, and now a partner’s-eye view from one of HPE’s top Canadian players.
The thing I keep coming back to from this conversation is something Stéphan said fairly early: that HPE is “a different company right now” — not compute-led anymore, but AI technology-led with networking increasingly at the center of gravity. That message was all over Neri’s keynote and Rahim’s session, but hearing it reflected back from a partner who’s been in the trenches with HPE for years and who had to make real investment decisions to get to Triple Platinum Plus — that carries a different kind of weight.
The data sovereignty and tokenomics point is one I’d flag for your own customer conversations if you’re an HPE partner, or really any partner in the infrastructure space. The cost of running AI at scale in the cloud is increasingly nudging customers, particularly in the Canadian public sector and regulated industries, back toward on-prem and edge deployments. That’s not a new idea, but it’s getting sharper, and it plays directly into the HPE portfolio story that was front and centre this week.
In The Channel is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most podcast directories. If you find value in what we’re doing here, a rating or review is always appreciated — it helps other people in the Canadian channel find us. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.
