Analyst Reports Name HP a Market Share Leader in IT Management Software

Business Wire, Oct 10, 2007

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced that independent industry analyst firm IDC has named it the No. 1 or No. 2 market share leader in several IT management software markets.

The IDC reports cited HP as No. 1 in the distributed system management,(1) automated software quality (ASQ),(2) and network change and configuration management software(3) markets. Additionally, the company ranked No. 2 in the server provisioning(4) and IT project and portfolio management software markets.(5)

These markets are served by solutions from the HP Business Technology Optimization (BTO) software portfolio, which help customers drive better business outcomes, such as lowering the cost of IT by automating key processes across IT domains, better align IT with the business, and speed service delivery to support strategic business initiatives.

"With so much of business today relying on technology, our customers depend on HP BTO software to bring IT into full alignment with the business and ensure IT investments deliver maximum value," said Ben Horowitz, vice president and general manager, BTO products, Software, HP. "We are committed to delivering the best BTO software in the industry, and it is a strong endorsement to be so highly ranked by IDC in these key markets."

No. 1 in distributed system management software

According to IDC, the distributed system management software market segment includes software tools that are routinely used in IT operations or by end users to manage system and application resources for distributed systems. This market is composed of six major constituent functional markets,(1)and HP was named first or second in revenue in three of these sub-markets.(6,7)

According to the reports:

* HP achieved first place in worldwide software license revenue in the overall distributed performance and availability management software market in 2006.(6)

* The market leader for 2006 in worldwide distributed event automation software revenue by a wide margin was HP, which was able to take first place in this market for the fifth consecutive year.(6)

* HP moved up sharply to reach second place overall in worldwide system management software market revenue in 2006 and continued to grow at substantially faster rates than the overall system management software market.(7)

"HP's revenue leadership in these markets was boosted by the acquisition of Mercury Interactive in 2006," wrote Tim Grieser, program vice president, Enterprise System Management Software, IDC, and author of three of the reports. "The acquisition combines Mercury's BTO solutions and messaging with HP Software's long established enterprise management software for systems and networks."(7)

HP Software offerings for the distributed system management market help IT gain visibility into operations from a business perspective so it can better align with business priorities. These offerings include:

* HP Operations Center allows IT to consolidate availability, event and system performance management across existing IT domains to increase staff efficiency and streamline operational processes. It provides a comprehensive perspective on infrastructure services and leverages a combination of intelligent agents and agent-less technology.

* HP Network Management Center automates the essential lifecycle tasks of operating a network, including network discovery and continuous monitoring, root-cause analysis and deployment of configuration changes. Integrated with HP Operations Center, it provides a cross-domain infrastructure management solution.

* HP Business Availability Center enables IT to monitor the health of applications and business services from a user's perspective. It includes capabilities to manage end-user experience, deliver on service level expectations and accelerate problem isolation and resolution.

* HP Service Management Center automates and streamlines the delivery and support of IT services to the business. It provides capabilities to orchestrate and automate key IT processes across process domains, manage the full lifecycle of IT assets, enable the complete financial management of IT and drive rapid tactical and strategic decisions based on quantitative business intelligence.

No. 1 in automated software quality

According to IDC, HP Software "remains by far the most dominant vendor in the ASQ arena," and IDC expects to see significant growth for HP moving into 2007.(2) IDC defines ASQ (automated software quality) to include tools which support software unit testing or system testing or both; they also support software quality assurance.(2)

"We expect HP to build on its existing strength with core improvements to its testing product line," said Melinda-Carol Ballou, program director for the Application Lifecycle Management Service and principle analyst, IT Management Service, IDC, and author of two of the reports. "HP Software's strength in SOA, opportunities in information lifecycle, and operations for service quality management and governance are potentially fertile areas for growth."(2)