News release

Analyst Study: HP OpenView Software Helps IT Overcome Challenge of Proving Business Value

Polled Companies Transformed IT Infrastructures From Cost Centers to Profit Centers Using HP Service Management Software and Solutions

According to a recent study by IDC,⁽¹⁾ HP (NYSE:HPQ) enterprise customers have met the challenge of demonstrating that information technology managers can have a substantial impact on their businesses' bottom line - indeed, IT should be seen as a "hero" in the words of the study's author, rather than a business burden or as costly "overhead."

The analyst firm found that IT managers can move from cost center to profit center by enabling their enterprises to realize substantial IT cost savings and end-user productivity gains using HP OpenView IT service management software to more effectively manage IT network, system and applications resources in support of business operations.

IDC determined that the HP OpenView software delivered a significant and rapid bottom-line "return on IT management" in three areas: IT productivity, IT management efficiency and application availability.

IDC polled HP OpenView customers, measured the efficiency of IT management tools and processes, and calculated that companies deploying HP OpenView reduced downtime by 79 percent with an average return on investment of 1,296 percent. This translated to an average savings in lost revenue of $74,468 per 100 users over three years and an average savings from increased user productivity of $93,712 per 100 users.

"Integrated enterprise IT service management tools, such as the HP OpenView management solutions, can yield extremely rapid returns in savings in IT management efficiency and productivity as well as in reduced system and application unavailability," said Paul Mason, analyst, IDC. "IDC has consistently found that the largest single benefit of integrated enterprise management tools is the reduction in system downtime, with its associated improvements in user productivity and reduction in lost business revenue.

"For the companies surveyed, the average reduction in downtime from deploying HP OpenView was 79 percent. Thus, the investments made by IT can readily be seen as creating real value for the business - making IT a hero instead of a burden."

In today's business environment, IT managers must be able to justify IT expenditures based on the business value these investments deliver. The IDC study demonstrates the value of software that can manage complex, distributed, heterogeneous infrastructures from the element and operations level to the business service level.

HP OpenView software helps IT managers reduce downtime in network, system and application availability in these environments, assuring that end-user productivity is maximized and that critical business services keep pace with business volatility, respond to competitive threats and deliver a better return on IT.

"The IDC survey validates what the market has known all along - HP OpenView service management solutions help IT management to move from cost center to profit center by significantly reducing IT systems downtime, thus boosting end-user productivity," said Todd DeLaughter, vice president and general manager, HP OpenView Business Unit. "Service management is a critical component in enabling companies to align their IT with their business processes and save on the bottom line."

The HP-commissioned study looked at 14 companies. One of the companies surveyed, Atmos Energy Corporation, is one of the largest all natural gas utility companies in the nation and delivers natural gas to 1.7 million customers in small urban and rural areas across 12 states.

By deploying HP OpenView software, Atmos Energy was able to:

• Substantially increase IT management efficiency, handle more transactions without hiring and automate event response mechanisms;
• Keep IT staffing levels stable, despite doubling the size of its existing network;
• Budget and plan more effectively using HP OpenView historical data capture;
• Decrease downtime and increase the average employee's productivity significantly; and
• Increase network availability from 87 percent to almost 100 percent.

Atmos Energy is just one example of HP OpenView customers that are enjoying substantial cost savings and productivity improvements and thus quickly recovering their investments in their IT infrastructures, said DeLaughter.

More information about HP OpenView management software and solutions is available at www.openview.hp.com.

About HP

HP delivers vital technology for business and life. The company's solutions span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing for consumers, enterprises and small and medium business. For the last four quarters, HP revenue totaled $70.4 billion. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

⁽¹⁾ "Turning IT Overhead into Business Value by Improving Infrastructure Management," by Paul Mason, IDC.