HP intros OpenView Automation soln for enterprises

MADRID: Hewlett Packard has launched its HP OpenView Automation Manager that seeks to automate the link between business processes and IT. The new product allows IT resources to be delivered automatically to meet shifting business priorities. This was announced as part of the HP Software Universe event being held in Madrid currently, other announcements at the event were the launch of Service Desk 5.0 version and the partnership with Cisco for reselling HP management software products.

The OpenView Automation Manager is the result of combining the technologies from Novadigm and Concera, companies that HP acquired earlier in the year in addition to the work done at HP Labs. "The introduction of Automation Manager demonstrates progress in the integration of acquired technologies during a relatively short period of time," said Stephen Elliot, senior analyst, IDC.

To put it in perspective this launch gets HP to refocus management software from the process of collecting management information to the process of converting real time management data into insight that enterprises can act on to better serve changing business needs. The software achieves this through model based or business triggered automation. The announcement expands the current OpenView management solutions by determining when the desired state needs to be changed in order to satisfy business priorities and automatically provisions based on capacity and current demand.

"Customers have basic management capabilities in place. The next challenge is to make the information useful for business insight," said Todd DeLaughter, Vice President - Software Global Business Unit of HP.

The launch of HP OpenView Service Desk 5.0 was another key aspect at the event. The latest version enables enterprises and service providers to better manage crucial support and service processes to address IT management challenges. A new feature is a 'Webstart' tool that makes deployment faster resulting in quicker time to value and lower cost of ownership. Other features include a Graphical SLA designer, compliance calculation engine, SLA compliance dashboard and reporting etc.

HP also announced the alliance with Cisco, which will resell HP OpenView solutions from the next quarter onwards. HP and Cisco will now provide joint solutions for enabling the development of adaptive and intelligent IT infrastructure. Cisco's leadership in networking infrastructure and HPs position in servers and network management are likely to make a powerful combination from a go to market stand point. Cisco will provide a series of HP OpenView products planned from the 1st quarter of 2005 including Network Node Manager, Smart Plug-in for IP multicast, TeMIP etc.

Speaking about markets with large growth potential, Nora Denzel, Senior Vice President, Adaptive Enterprise mentioned that HP's software business is expecting large revenue growth from Brazil, China, India and Russia. On the aspect of lower software pricing for developing countries, she said, "We will have to do it on a case to case basis. Discounting is certainly there and our average deal size is less in developing countries."