News release

HP Helps Manufacturers, Distributors Better Manage Business Services with Solution Certified by SAP

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HP today introduced a solution that allows manufacturers and distribution companies to improve visibility into and control over software and business service interactions across their supply chains and within IT environments.

The HP Manufacturing and Distribution Industries Business Services Management (MDI BSM) solution – which has achieved “SAP® xApps™ certified – Powered by SAP NetWeaver®” status – can be implemented without radically changing existing IT systems. The result is manufacturers can shorten their time to market for new products and services, save money and, ultimately, deliver better business outcomes.

The offering was announced at SAPPHIRE® ‘07 Vienna, SAP’s international customer conference.

The HP MDI BSM solution addresses common business issues by providing the means for manufacturing and distribution companies to:

• Allow IT managers to establish business process service-level agreements with their line of business counterparts to more effectively align IT with business priorities;
• Improve visibility and control over applications and business service interactions all across the supply chain;
• Shift the focus from reacting to infrastructure problems to understanding the impact of IT changes and breakdowns
• Use business metrics to drive more intelligent IT decision making;
• Address issues before they have an impact on the business;
• Speed reaction time to shifting market opportunities or threats;
• Shorten the time to market for new products and services; and
• Speed the adoption of enterprise SOA (eSOA) to achieve the benefits of increased flexibility for business processes and reduced development, integration and maintenance costs.

“Successful business service management depends on the ability to track and visualize key business processes,” said Mike Tay, director, IT Strategy and Consulting, Adobe. “Today, Adobe is using HP Business Availability Center and HP Operations Center to monitor a wide range of SAP applications for front- and back-end business operations providing greater visibility that improves user, customer and business partner satisfaction.”

HP brings its experience running one of the world’s largest and most complex manufacturing and distribution supply chains to its customers and combines it with technology, services, a proven business service management methodology and thousands of highly experienced personnel to ensure a seamless deployment.

HP also has extensive experience with SAP, both as an SAP Global Partner and as the owner of one of the world’s largest SAP application installations. This knowledge helps ensure that every customer implementation of the MDI BSM engagement goes smoothly.

“When business services aren’t working in concert, the result can seriously damage a company’s reputation, its customer relationships and the bottom line,” said Uli van der Meer, vice president and general manager, Manufacturing and Distribution Industries, HP. “HP’s solution helps companies maintain vital visibility into the many complex business services required to orchestrate the profitable delivery of products into the marketplace.”

The HP MDI BSM solution, built on an enterprise service-oriented architecture (eSOA), is a combination of HP software and services. The solution includes the entire Business Technology Optimization for eSOA product set, including eSOA governance, quality and management, as well as elements for business process monitoring, governance and change management, test management and automation, synthetic transaction monitoring, and integrated incident management services. The solution is also powered by the HP BSMconnect Semi-Packaged Composite Application certified by SAP.

HP Services provides assessment services, deployment and integration expertise, and training for the line-of-business user working with SAP applications and for the operations team who implement, operate and change the business applications. HP can even manage the entire MDI BSM solution as an outsourced service.

The HP MDI BSM solution is designed to support the upcoming release of version 3 of ITIL (IT infrastructure library), the most widely accepted and cohesive set of best practice guidelines for IT service management in the world. HP’s Service Management consulting, training, continuous improvement and education services help optimize service quality, improve service levels, reduce service delivery costs and maximize the business value from SAP applications.

HP works with the IDS Scheer ARIS Platform and or IDS Scheer consultants within the MDI BSM solution for SAP applications and other integration projects. This ensures a strong correlation between business process definitions and SAP applications throughout the entire lifecycle of an SAP implementation.

The MDI BSM solution is part of the HP Business Technology Optimization portfolio, which uses HP’s management software and application services to help customers address the key challenges of aligning business and IT, managing IT services and automating change.

More information on HP in the manufacturing and distribution industries is available at www.hp.com/go/manufacturing.

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $94.1 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2007. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning expected development, performance or market share relating to products and services; anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the achievement of expected results and other risks that are described from time to time in HP’s Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to the risks described in HP’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended Jan. 31, 2007. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

© 2007 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.