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Huawei: We're Still Building Our U.S. Enterprise Business, Channel

Huawei says it's still interested in developing its U.S. enterprise business, despite recent comments from one of its top executives that suggested the company had given up on doing business in the U.S. market.

At a conference in Shenzhen, China earlier this week, Huawei Deputy Chairman Eric Xu told analysts that Huawei is "not interested in the U.S. market anymore," as reported by Reuters. Xu also said Huawei had cut its U.S. enterprise sales target for 2017 from $15 billion to $10 billion.

Francis Hopkins, director of corporate communications for Huawei's U.S. headquarters in Plano, Texas, told CRN Wednesday that Xu was referring to Huawei's U.S carrier network business, particularly business with Tier One operators, and not Huawei's U.S. enterprise business.

Huawei not only plans to continue doing business in the U.S., it's also expanding its enterprise marketing efforts and looking to build its partner channel, Hopkins said in an email.

[Related: Symantec To Sell Stake In Huawei Symantec Joint Venture To Huawei ]

Huawei is planning to showcase its servers, storage, and networking gear at the Spring Interop 2013 conference next month, Hopkins said in the email. Later that month, Huawei will hold its first partner conference under its own brand, a follow-up from the one it held two years ago when it was known as Huawei-Symantec.

Huawei's decision to lessen its focus on the U.S. carrier market isn't surprising. The U.S. government has been scrutinizing Huawei's close ties to China's government and the security implications of Huawei providing U.S. carrier infrastructure.

Hopkins said Huawei's global carrier network business is primarily from developed markets outside the U.S.

"The situation in the U.S. is the same today as it was a week ago, a month ago, etc., and [Xu's comment] reflects the realities of our carrier network business in the U.S.," Hopkins said in the email.

"Simply put, the current U.S. market environment makes it difficult for this market to become a primary revenue source or a key growth area for our carrier network."

NEXT: Channel Concerns Based On Past Huawei-Symantec Experience

Huawei-Symantec was a joint venture between Huawei and Symantec, the U.S.-based security vendor. Symantec in late 2011 sold its stake to Huawei, which then closed down operations in the U.S. except for servicing existing customers.

Jeanne Wilson, president of Condor Storage, a Sedona, Ariz.-based solution provider which partnered with Huawei-Symantec in the past, said she is taking a wait-and-see approach to Huawei.

"When Huawei laid its storage people off, we were caught unawares," Wilson said. "All they left us was a phone number for support.

Glenn Conley, president and CEO of Metropark Communications, a St. Louis-based solution provider, said he took the Huawei corporate comment as more focused on the carrier side, and not on the enterprise side.

"Over the last year, I have had multiple [Huawei] guys fly directly from China to here at Metropark and start going through what are the things we need to compete in North America, and start laying out the routers and switches and putting together a suite of products," Conley said. "And now they are having a partner summit, and I know they are putting some money into the Interop show in Vegas. So it sounds like they are shifting their focus more from the carrier side to the enterprise side, and I love that."

Conley said half of his customers raise security concerns when buying Huawei products, and half do not.

"The half that don’t ask, they couldn’t care less, as long we're providing a decent solution to them," he said. "The ones I am having conversations with, on that level, they're saying, well if the government is going to come in and say I can't buy from them or I shouldn't buy from them, then maybe we should look at them extra hard. "

Kristin Bent contributed to this article.

Man who killed two people with Camp Fire dump truck sentenced

OROVILLE — A dump truck driver who killed two people in a four-vehicle crash on Highway 99 south of Chico in 2019 learned Wednesday he’ll spend the next 10 years in state prison.

Thomas Fairhurst, 59, of Antioch, was driving a 26,000-pound dump truck north on Highway 99 when he rammed a subcompact car stopped at a red light at the intersection with Neal Road June 21, 2019, according to a news release from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office. Donald Shippen, 53, and Apryl Shippen, 56, both of Chico, were inside the Chevrolet Aveo when Fairhurst’s truck struck them as it was moving at 55 mph.

Investigators found no evidence Fairhurst attempted to brake prior to making impact, according to the release.

Fairhurst’s truck pushed the Chevrolet into a Toyota sport-utility vehicle that was also stopped at the red light, according to the release. The impact pushed the Toyota, in turn, under a semitrailer stopped in front of the Toyota. The Chevrolet and Toyota sustained extensive damage.

Three occupants of the Toyota suffered major injuries, as did the Shippens’ adult son, who was driving the Chevrolet, according to the release. Fairhurst and the driver of the semitrailer were not injured.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said an investigation by the California Highway Patrol Major Accident Investigation Team revealed Fairhurst had engaged in late-night partying and activities in the days prior to the collision, while he was working long days in the Paradise area.

Investigators concluded Fairhurst did not obtain the amount of sleep needed to operate his commercial vehicle safely and attentively, and that he fell asleep as he approached the busy Neal Road intersection, according to the release.

Ramsey said Fairhurst’s case was one of many serious cases on the Butte County court docket that were delayed repeatedly during the COVID pandemic.

Fairhurst initially pleaded guilty Feb. 15 to two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter, but he failed to appear at his sentencing hearing April 20, according to the release. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Ramsey stated his office filed an additional charge for failing to appear.

A Magalia man and suspected cold-case killer admitted in Butte County Superior Court to murdering a woman in 2017.

Dustin Troy Kimball, 49, pleaded no contest Wednesday to a single count of murder for the homicide of Jennifer Coleen Moore, according to a news release from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office.

Ramsey said Moore was reported missing to the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office June 20, 2017. Friends and family had last seen her a day earlier when she left her Orland home with Kimball, her boyfriend. Moore left her special-needs son at home with her roommate while she went with Kimball to purchase a car for herself, but never returned.

The Glenn County Sheriff’s Office investigated the missing person report, but detectives could not find Moore during the investigation and the case “went cold” for the next three and a half years, according to the release.

Ramsey said the Butte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a Jan. 10, 2021, call regarding human remains found in a rural area near Forest Ranch, off Highway 32. Forensic anthropologists from Chico State evaluated the remains, ultimately determining them to be Moore’s.

Ramsey said that at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing that the evidence established Kimball was the last person to be seen with Moore June 19, 2017. After he picked her up from her home, he drove her to the Chico Walmart, which was the last location they were seen together on store surveillance.

Evidence of Kimball’s internet search history revealed that less than an hour before picking up Moore from her home, he was searching topics related to “jugular vein” and “how to cut a jugular vein,” according to the release.

Kimball’s cellular location data revealed that after leaving the Chico Walmart that evening, he spent an hour at the exact area where Moore’s remains would later be found, according to the release. The data also showed Kimball returned to that site the following day.

Kimball’s sentencing is set for Jan. 31, 2024. As a result of the plea, Kimball faces a sentence of 15 years to life in state prison. He is currently being held with no bail in the Butte County Jail pending sentencing.

After listening to seven days of testimony, a Butte County jury took only three hours Thursday to find a Las Vegas man guilty of a murder he committed in Forest Ranch in 2019.

The jury found Robert Anderson, 30, guilty of the bludgeoning death of Gunther “Gunny” Rupprecht, 30, of Forest Ranch, in addition to charges of possession of cocaine for sale and transportation of cocaine, according to a news release from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office.

Ramsey said evidence revealed Anderson had been partying at a friend’s house in Chico along with Rupprecht. Anderson had brought cocaine to the party and was bragging about his drug dealing, according to the release. When the party ran out of cocaine, Anderson got a ride to where he was staying in Chico to pick up another 47 grams of cocaine along with $1,100 in cash.

As the party wound down, Rupprecht invited Anderson to stay at Rupprecht’s Forest Ranch house, according to the release.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office was called out the next morning, Aug. 27, 2019, to an extremely bloody scene at Rupprecht’s property, according to the release. Rupprecht was discovered dead with 40-50 slashes and gouges to his body, along with massive blunt-force trauma that shattered his skull.

Anderson had attacked Rupprecht with a snow shovel, a butcher knife, a PVC pipe and a massive rock, along with punches, elbows and kicks, according to the release.

Ramsey said Anderson fled the scene, covered in blood, to the neighbors and had offered them money to take him to Chico. The neighbors took Anderson to a local market to call law enforcement officers, who arrived and arrested him.

Anderson testified to the jury that Rupprecht attacked him and hit him in the back of the head for no reason while at the Forest Ranch home, according to the release. Anderson said he then blacked out and defended himself, but could not remember how he did so. The evidence showed no injuries to Anderson when he was arrested.

Anderson is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 17, 2024, when he faces 15 years to life in state prison on the murder charge, as well as five years on the cocaine charges.

A Palermo resident contacted Butte County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers Thursday to report a shooting in the 6000 block of Upper Palermo Road. Deputies and detectives arrived and say they found evidence indicating Palermo resident Phillip Moret, 62, had fired a gun, according to a news release from the Butte County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies and detectives determined Moret had an arrest warrant for a felony count of assault with a deadly weapon, and a misdemeanor count of vandalism, according to the release. Deputies obtained information that Moret was possibly armed with firearms and was not likely to surrender peacefully. They used a loudspeaker to communicate with Moret from outside the residence; Moret refused to exit the residence.

Members of the Butte County Sheriff’s Office SWAT and hostage negotiation teams went to Moret’s residence with great caution, believing Moret was armed, according to the release.

Detectives obtained a warrant to search Moret’s residence, according to the release. Hostage Negotiation members used a loudspeaker to address Moret from outside for approximately four hours, though Moret continued to refuse to exit the residence.

After four hours had passed, the SWAT team deployed tear gas into the residence, according to the release. Sheriff’s authorities believed this was necessary, as an entry into the residence to search for Moret without first deploying gas would have been extremely dangerous for the deputies. The gas strategy worked; Moret exited the residence and was placed under arrest without incident.