HP Further Extends Open Source and Linux Into the Data Center; New Expertise Centers, Products and Services Aim to Simplify Integration of Open Source and Linux

Business Wire, August 8, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO -- HP (NYSE:HPQ) (Nasdaq:HPQ) today announced new products, services and programs to help customers simplify and accelerate the adoption of Linux and open source in the data center.

Introduced at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, the offerings include four new Linux Expertise Centers for independent software vendors and extended services for customers in HP Solution Centers worldwide.

The company also unveiled more than 200 open source packages on HP Integrity NonStop servers, programs developed with industry leaders to facilitate the use of open source technology across vendors and operating systems, and Virus Throttle for Linux -- an industry-first security technology that provides proactive, intelligent defense against unknown virus threats based on Linux.

To date, HP has sold more Linux servers than any other major hardware vendor(1) and continues to aggressively license patents under the General Public License.

"An impressive amount of HP's growth from the last 2 years came from products and services based on open source," said Martin Fink, vice president and general manager, Open Source and Linux Organization and NonStop Enterprise Division, HP. "HP's level of commitment to open source provides customers with the choice, integration expertise and confidence they need to become an Adaptive Enterprise."

HP expertise helps customers adopt open source technologies with confidence

Four new Linux Expertise Centers for independent software vendors (ISVs) were opened in the United States and Europe in conjunction with the HP Developer and Solution Partner Program. The centers feature the latest HP server and open source technology support spanning the most popular Linux distributions -- Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server -- and are specifically targeted for the ISV community to utilize for porting their applications.

Additionally, HP has extended services for customers with a network of more than 80 HP Solution Centers worldwide. For customers and partners looking to implement open source and Linux solutions, the centers provide a dedicated environment for development, testing and validation on the latest HP hardware and open source technology prior to implementation.

mFormation Technologies Inc., a leading provider of mobile device management software, chose HP in order to provide its joint Tier I global operator customers with a high-availability, future-proof, Linux-based mobile device management solution -- one that not only enabled customers to accelerate data revenues and increase customer satisfaction, but also significantly reduce the costs of managing their advanced mobile devices.

"HP provided mFormation with extensive support to port our carrier-grade mobile device management software platform, mFormation SERVICE MANAGER(TM), to Linux," said Upal K. Basu, co-founder and vice president of marketing and business development, mFormation. "Using the hardware, software and technical assistance available through the HP Developer and Solution Partner Program, we were able to complete the Linux port rapidly. Once the port was completed, we utilized the HP Solution Center in Houston, Texas for benchmarking and high-availability tests to prove the scalability and reliability of our solution."

HP delivers choice and security for customers who deploy open source and Linux

To help customers more easily deploy a reliable and secure open source environment, HP introduced the following technologies:

--More than 200 open source packages on HP Integrity NonStop servers, including Apache Web Server, Jabber, Samba, Zope and more. The company has also augmented some open source material to utilize the HP Integrity NonStop fundamentals to deliver the highest levels of fault tolerance, scalability and data integrity. HP intends to deliver more than 300 additional open source packages on HP Integrity NonStop servers in the near future.

--HP Virus Throttle for Linux, a security technology that works without the need for specific knowledge of a virus itself and without any business interruption. Virus Throttle is expected to be available in the HP ProLiant Essentials Intelligent Networking Pack - Linux Edition in September.

--HP ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack Linux Edition version 1.30, a software option for HP ProLiant servers that automates the process of deploying and provisioning server software on Linux-based servers. The new version adds support for the latest hardware and is expected to be available in September.

In addition to these offerings, HP now has more than 1,000 financial institutions, financial switches, specialty retailers and oil and gas companies that use its industry-leading HP Atalla Security Products to safeguard financial transactions and sensitive data from internal and external threats. Securing millions of ATM, point-of-sale and electronic fund transfers a day, these products use hardened, embedded Linux combined with a FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified cryptographic subsystem to provide application-level security functionality, such as strong encryption and key management.