Hewlett-Packard has lost a key member of its reseller sales staff to Oracle (News - Alert), leading some in the industry to speculate if other defections will follow.

Tom LaRocca had worked at HP for 12 years, according to news reports. His new title at Oracle is “vice president of worldwide product strategy and alliances,” according to the Business Insider. At HP, LaRocca was “vice president of marketing and strategy in HP's Solution Partners Organization (SPO),” the Business Insider said.

“It was his job to oversee all the promotions that get… resellers excited to sell HP products,” the Business Insider adds.

The move comes as Oracle is “aggressively” trying to hire away HP partners, CRN reports. CRN adds that Judson Althoff, Oracle’s senior vice president for worldwide channel and alliances, said his company “has a ‘huge’ focus on bringing in HP partners.”

As partners are hired away, Oracle hopes to “grab more small and mid-sized customers through them,” the Business Insider said.

Oracle has a special focus on selling database appliances, the Business Insider adds.

CRN reported that while at HP LaRocca, was one of the “key architects of the company's PartnerONE program.” LaRocca was called the “father” of the PartnerONE program by John Convery, executive vice president of vendor relations and marketing at Denali Advanced Integration, CRN said.

"He certainly understands the channel and what motivates partners," Convery told CRN. "I think he'll bring a tremendous amount of expertise to Oracle."

The rivalry between Oracle and HP is not just about generating customer sales. Oracle and HP have been engaged in a series of legal battles over the last year.

On another front, Oracle is also hiring more employees in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to a recent report from TMCnet. Oracle announced during the summer it will hire over 1,700 employees in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region, according to media reports. The company is adding the new workers after finding that it has business growth in the regions.

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