
The original version of HP’s DaaS program, which was unveiled in June 2016 and rolled out to partners more broadly five months later, is currently available from nearly 100 partners around the world. Designed to help bulk purchasers streamline endpoint acquisition and management, the service generally targets midsize and larger organizations.
Driven by increased demand from commercial buyers eager to pay for hardware the same way they pay for cloud-based software, other leading names in IT have been launching and expanding subscription-based hardware purchasing schemes in recent years as well. Microsoft, for example, unveiled a per-user, per-month acquisition program for Surface devices in July 2016. Ingram Micro Inc. introduced a hardware subscription plan the following month, and equipped it with a wider range of contract terms last May. Tech Data Corp. launched a hardware, software, and services subscription program of its own last December.