hp announces hp openview internet service management program to help internet service providers grow their businesses

program to combine wide range of hp products and technologies to help isps maximize the internet's potential

The HP OpenView Internet Service Management Program will focus on end-to-end Internet service management, including usage, assurance and provisioning. It will bring together existing HP products and newly developed technologies to help ISPs increase business efficiency, deliver value-added services and improve customer satisfaction.

"This program blends a range of HP technologies and capabilities into a single initiative," said Bernard Guidon, HP vice president and general manager for the Telecom Business Unit. "HP is well-positioned to offer the breadth of products and depth of experience required to help the ISP maximize the Internet's true potential."

HP's strength in providing service-management solutions is born of its leadership position in the computing and measurement industries. HP also is a leading supplier of test and measurement equipment and solutions worldwide and has one of the world's largest intranets. HP is ranked as a leading vendor in the commercial UNIX. system/RISC market and in the PC server and superserver markets.

"HP leverages its strengths in network management [OpenView] and computing platforms to provide next-generation service- and business-management solutions for Internet Service Providers," said Dan Taylor, director, Global Telecom Research, Aberdeen Group, Inc. "Because these solutions are incremental additions to existing platforms, HP lowers the cost of entry so that even midtier regional ISPs can benefit from operational and business automation."

core competencies
Drawing on core competencies from across HP, in addition to leveraging third-party technologies, the HP OpenView Internet ServiceManagement Program is expected to do the following:

• deliver differentiated, value-added services quickly, such as electronic commerce, Web hosting and scaleable E-mail;
• allow ISPs to provide managed Internet services to give their customers high quality of service;
• track subscriber usage for usage-based billing applications;
• provide provisioning tools that simplify service administration; and
• lower total cost of ownership by implementing Internet solutions on robust, UNIX system and Microsoft Windows NT server platforms.

"The fast growth of the Internet has created many business challenges for ISPs," said Jeffrey Thiemann, general manager of HP's NetMetrix Division. "High operating overhead, difficult planning conditions, a rapidly growing subscriber base and an environment defined by constant change are at the heart of these challenges. We are unleashing breakthrough solutions that take direct aim at these critical business issues — solutions that give ISPs the speed, agility and simplicity to meet one of their most vital business challenges head-on: generating new, sustainable sources of revenue."

u.s. pricing and availability
The first of several solutions in the HP OpenView Internet Service Management Program is expected to be available in March. Pricing for the solutions has not yet been set.

about hp
Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. It is the second-largest computer supplier in the world, with computer-related revenue in excess of $35.4 billion in its 1997 fiscal year. HP has 121,900 employees and had revenue of $42.9 billion in its 1997 fiscal year.

Information about HP's Internet Service Management program and its products can be found at http://www.hp.com/go/isp.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.
Microsoft is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Windows NT is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.