Hewlett Packard Enterprise has closed its Ukrainian office. Now the company will provide its services via an intermediary, Sophela company, which became an exclusive representative of HPE in Ukraine, explained AIN.UA’s sources in the company.

What has changed

An official press release says that HPE took this step “optimize expenses in current market environment”, and that “in no way has influenced the provision of services and cooperation with the company’s partners and customers.”

Sophela’s press service informed AIN.UA that Kyiv office of Hewlett Packard Enterprise used to employ 80 persons. All of them have been transferred to Sophela’s staff and continue to hold the same positions. The office remains in the same building. So, in effect, full-time employees of HPE have been outstaffed.

What is Sophela

Sophela is part of ALSO holding operating across 15 European countries. The company offers various categories of ICT products for hardware, software and IT, as well as provides services in logistics, financial, IT, and digital sectors of the economy. The press release further says that Sophela will not directly handle HPE product sales in Ukraine. Sales will be carried out via existing sales channels: via 2 official distributors ERC and MTI, and other partners.

In related news: in December 2017, Intel closed its Ukrainian office.