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HP's OpenView to go through overhaul
Hewlett Packard (HP) is to restructure its OpenView suite of software into an integrated solution in an effort to capture a share of the e-services management market.

By Sonya Rabbitte

Published: Friday 17 November 2000

The new strategy will transform OpenView from a set of stand-alone software products to a complete end-to-end integrated solution.

Work is currently underway to upgrade existing programs and develop new solutions to link the separate areas of network, systems, applications, storage and customer service management.

The new strategy, which HP executives are calling 'closed loop delivery', will be gradually rolled out next year, a time frame which has been accelerated by the recent acquisition of Riversoft's NMOS technology.

However, pundits are disappointed that the move did not happen sooner.

The new OpenView strategy is part of an overall shift by HP towards the e-services market, an area where HP have been lagging for some time according to Ian Bramley, MD of research house and systems management specialists Software Strategies.

"HP don't seem to have been very together over the past two or three years. They obviously see that they need to pursue the e-services market, but they've never been very good at selling software products. They've under-fulfilled their potential. A lot of people are disappointed that the OpenView products have not developed faster," said Bramley.

He added that while HP's main competitors were further advanced in the delivery of integrated solutions, HP would probably capture a market share through sales to existing OpenView customers.

Christoph Pfister, solutions marketing manager for OpenView Europe, said: "We were working on this in HP labs, but it [the Riversoft acquisition] definitely gave us a kickstart."

According to Pfister, the closed loop strategy will be based on a set of targets called service level objectives (SLOs).

"The SLO is about customer service, you need to translate that into metrics that mean something to IT, service level objectives. It's about deploying policies, monitoring reports and automatically adapting policies if problems arise. Business people don't want to know about the router or the server. They need seamless integration," he said.

Integrated solutions will be launched according to key market demands, with initial development starting in the IP and web hosting markets.

OpenView's licensing structure is also set for an overhaul. A global programme to standardise the licensing structure will be rolled out in tandem with the closed loop strategy.