g
UPDATES TO RECENT STORIES
CONVERGENCE FROM PAGE 13 vendor with many different prod-
19, looks to offer a wide range of ucts and services to being a strategic
security offerings, again using HP partner that can provide a holistic
servers, storage, software and ser- solution for a customer’s data center,
vices. At the company’s HP Software Laliberte said.
go.eweek.com/updates Universe, held the same week as the “This falls into the category of the
Technology Forum, HP introduced work that [HP has] to do, which is
several more pieces of software and figuring out how to put all the pieces
updates meant to help IT managers together in a coherent form for their
improve efficiency in the data center. customers,” Laliberte said. “You are
At the same time, Livermore said HP going to see them move away from
will push its advantage in storage addressingissues likemitigatingrisk
products as well as its blade archi- and take that down to a new level of
tecture, especially its BladeCenter granularity.”
c-Class systems. One way HP will expand services is
HP is not the only company look- to use its own internal infrastructure
ing to expand its services offerings. as a model of what can be done with
IBM’s Global Services unit is larger HP hardware, software and services.
than HP’s Ser- Hurd highlighted
vices Group, and ‘In this case, you want this push in his
Sun Microsystems the company to show all keynote, saying in the past two that “IT is an HP
years has looked the tools and widgets that asset” and that its
to add to its own they have introduced.’ best-selling points ervices by lever- can be found in
aging its servers, HP’s data centers.
storage and software products. Dell Some customers say they believe
is looking to use its knowledge of HP is on track. Worth Davis, director
data centers to expand its service and of IT operations for Suez Energy North
Sun and Azul reach consulting arm. America, an energy and natural gas
The services numbers are signifi- business, said the Houston company
legal settlement cant. HP reported $4.1 billion in ser- has heavily invested in HP products
vices revenue for the first three months and uses a range of hardware and soft-
SUN MICROSYSTEMS AND AZUL of 2007, while IBM reported $8.25 ware, from c-Class blades and ProLiant
Systems have settled their nasty billion. Sun reported $1.23 billion for servers to storage EVA (Enterprise
15-month legal dispute that the same period. With Dell’s ongoing Virtual Array) models to OpenView
included accusations of stolen financial problems, the company’s ser- enterprise management software.
trade secrets, corporate bully- vices revenue is difficult to calculate, Despite his years dealing with HP,
ing and bad-faith negotiations although news reports peg the number Davis said it is difficult to keep up with
( eweek.com, May 4, 2006). at about $6 billion annually. the disparate software offerings that
Neither company would disclose The challenge for HP is convincing the company rolls out every year. Still,
details of the settlement, though potential customers that its products he said, HP’s data center experience
both claimed victory. In a blog, Sun can solve a wide range of IT issues. is a compelling story.
Gateway recalls
laptop batteries
GATEWAY IS RECALLING ABOUT
14,000 laptop battery packs that
were sold during a three-month
period in 2003, the second time
in nine months that the computer
maker has recalled laptop batteries ( eweek.com, Oct. 23, 2006).
According to the June 19 recall,
the lithium-ion battery packs can
overheat and possibly cause a fire,
although the internal battery cell is
not defective, Gateway said.
The recall affects lithium-ion
battery packs for two Gateway
laptop models—the 400VTX and
450ROG—that were sold between
May and August 2003, the company
said. —Scott Ferguson
General Counsel Mike Dillon said Livermore said HP will provide ser- “It’s not just HP, but all the large
that the terms “are favorable to vices not only for its own products but shops that have this problem,” Davis
Sun. I think it’s likely that Azul had also for rivals’ hardware and software. said. “In this case, you want the com-
a change of heart about the case.” It also will offer consulting services. pany to show all the tools and wid-
Azul filed suit in March 2006, Bob Laliberte, an analyst with gets that they have introduced and
accusing Sun of trying to use its Enterprise Strategy Group, said HP show how they can be implemented
greater size and resources to bully is one of the few IT companies able with new software. I think with HP
Azul into giving Sun part owner- to piece together software, hardware, services, any medium-to-large shop
ship. Two months later, Sun sued, storage and services into a set of all- will buy into that. As for what HP
saying that nine employees of Azul encompassing products that will not is doing, I like the story that they
had brought over trade secrets after only manage the data center but also have with their own data centers and
they had left Sun. —Jeffrey Burt add value to an enterprise. The trick what they are doing there. I think it’s
is how HP moves from being an IT legitimate.” ´
