HP packages aim to entice enterprise into cloud

HP has updated its range of cloud packages, with the introduction of cloud services for the enterprise from US and UK datacentres, a new package for private cloud deployments and a cloud automation tool.

HP Enterprise Cloud Services Compute will provide IT services from a UK datacentre, which HP believes will help with data governance and compliance, the company announced on Tuesday. It will initially be sold on a subscription basis, with a move to a pay-per-use tariff once HP has created demand models from its customers.

HP CloudSystem is a new package combining existing hardware from HP's converged infrastructure portfolio and Cloud Service Automation system management tools, packaged for lower total cost.

With the announcement, HP now has "three basic models of taking stuff to market", HP fellow Mateen Greenway told journalists at a briefing in London. "One is we'll still sell hardware and software to people; the second is we'll provide cloud services to people directly; the third model is we will provide these cloud systems — these cloud services — to people so they can white-label [brand] them and do what they like."

HP plans to offer additional enterprise cloud services in the future, Greenway said, but is going to start off with compute. The company will offer 99.9 percent availability for the service.

Cloud Service Automation is "very much an engine to provide IT services and manage the lifecycle of these IT services in an automated manner", HP software services principal Ulrike Halmer told journalists at the briefing.

The company also announced HP Cloud Discovery Workshops, which are designed to educate top executives about the cloud.

HP Enterprise Cloud Services Compute will be available from February or March, CloudSystem will be available from February and Cloud Software Automaton is already available.

Prices for the packages, services and workshops were not disclosed.