HP Unveils Programs for Hosting, Broadband and Mobile Service Providers
By Jeanie Stokes
from the June 18, 2001 issue of Broadband Week
Think Hewlett-Packard Co. means just computers and printers? Think again.
The maker of computers and printers and software has expanded its business to include a mixture of technology and consulting services designed to help service and content providers move successfully into the broadband arena.
As the telecommunications world embraces high-speed Internet connectivity, HP is "working with service providers to build a roadmap of broadband services," says Gabriele Di Piazzi, worldwide marketing manager for broadband in HP's service provider and mobile solutions unit.
The company is working with network and software partners to enable service providers to acquire transport and deliver content to end-users through a variety of appliances.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP not only sees itself as the provider of technology, but also as helping its business clients find new customers for the range of services broadband technology makes possible. And it's providing the tools and skills to help companies manage their operations and integrate next-generation infrastructures with existing systems.
"It's not just being a technology provider on one side, or just being a consultant on the other side. We have the expertise to look at the process of deployment," Di Piazzi says.
Providing information technology services is an important offset to the cyclical ups and downs in equipment sales for a manufacturer, even one like HP that in the past quarter had the largest single market share among PC makers.
HP's IT services revenue for the six months ended April 30 rose 11 percent to $3.8 billion from the same period a year earlier. That contrasts sharply with its other business units, imaging and printing devices and computing systems, where sales declined 2 percent to 3 percent in the same period.
HP warned June 6 that IT spending is slowing beyond the United States and Europe. The current quarter's revenue is expected to be flat to down 5 percent. The company didn't indicate how that slowdown in spending is affecting its consulting business, which employs 6,500 people worldwide.
"We are taking additional steps to generate revenue and reduce costs while continuing to implement our long-term growth strategy," said Carly Fiorina, HP's chairman, president and chief executive officer, in a statement released in conjunction with the company's semi-annual analyst meeting.
HP says its diversified approach is ideal for helping meet telecom and Internet service provider needs for reliable infrastructures that will allow them to rapidly deliver new services and drive growth.
One recently announced customer was Vodafone Group Plc, which deployed the HP Internet Usage Manager (IUM) platform in the United Kingdom to support content billing for its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile Internet Protocol network. HP's IUM measures customer service usage, giving network operators greater flexibility in how they package and sell individual services. It also tracks data required for billing, marketing analysis and operations management systems
Through its Service Provider program, HP offers co-selling, incentive and co-marketing features to its strategic partners. It's also set up a Software Business Partner Program that's designed specifically for resellers, system integrators, consultants, service providers and independent software vendors wanting to develop software solutions or build on HP Netaction and HP OpenView software products. HP Netaction products make possible the development, integration and deployment of new Internet services. OpenView provides comprehensive management of those services.
Di Piazzi says OpenView is the leading network management architecture and is used by more than 60 percent of telecom providers.
HP has targeted broadband access providers that at present hold the majority of relationships with end users. It's also looking at ways to solve problems for content providers and providers of broadband services in automobiles as well as metropolitan area networks.
HP is providing solutions for both the business market, which can drive margins and revenue, as well as the consumer market, which provides the subscriber penetration that network access providers need to show a growing customer base.
HP's partners include Cisco Network Systems Inc., which has helped develop software, hardware and services to support automated service delivery, service assurance and billing. Nortel Networks is working with HP on new revenue-generating opportunities and personalized value-added services for the broadband environment. Software vendors including Infovalue, PacketVideo Corp. and 2netFX and content delivery network provider Speedera Networks Inc., are working with HP to create other new broadband solutions.
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