HP Unveils Its Adaptive Enterprise Strategy

Nora Denzel, senior vice president of HP's Adaptive Enterprise and Software Global Business Unit, described the "adaptive enterprise" as a vision for how a company can use people, processes and technology to respond in realtime to changing business conditions. As an example, she said HP, which has implemented the adaptive enterprise vision for itself, responds to shifting business conditions with about 500,000 IT infrastructure changes per a week.

Ultimately, there will be no more IT projects, Denzel said. "Instead, you will have a business strategy, with IT changes to support [that strategy]," she said. When a network router fails, a support person can weigh the cost of the router being down compared with other projects, then prioritize repairs.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP unveiled a host of new services as part of its strategy. These include a fully outsourced self-help and self-heal support for desktop, mobile, and wireless users; and IT Service Management certifications to help service providers maximize their staff, processes, and technology for delivering HP services. Customers also can outsource their IT departments to HP using the HP Mission Critical Partnership. The company also packaged many of its IT service management best practices into its new HP OpenView Service Desk. HP executives said these best practices cover 80 percent of what a customer needs to change IT processes without customization.

The channel will play a big role in helping HP with its Adaptive Enterprise strategy, Denzel said. "Sixty percent of our OpenView software is sold through channel partners," she said. "You don't buy an Adaptive Enterprise. You build one, piece by piece. This is an excellent opportunity for channel partners with local reach."

HP is currently spending about 60 percent of its R&D budget, or about $2.5 billion this year, on its adaptive enterprise strategy, said Peter Blackmore, executive vice president of HP's Enterprise Systems Group.

Blackmore said parts of the adaptive enterprise strategy are applicable to smaller and midsize businesses as well as to enterprises. "The difference is, medium-size companies don't have their own IT departments, so they need more integration help from HP or its value-add partners," he said.

HP apparently has a flair for large announcements. Besides unveiling scores of new services and software packages, it also said it will acquire Persist Technologies, Pleasanton, Calif., for an undisclosed sum. Privately held Persist develops active archiving software that enables the archiving of e-mails and other types of documents. Archived data can also be searched and retrieved.