HP Technology Services drives innovation

Issued by HP
Johannesburg, 25 Jul 2013

HP recently announced new consulting and support services that improve network simplicity, scalability and agility, enabling organisations to reduce the time spent on IT maintenance so they can take on more strategic initiatives.

Cloud, virtualisation, mobility and big data are placing unprecedented demands on data centre network flexibility and agility. Technology enablers such as Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and software-defined networking (SDN) reduce complexity and improve speed. However, today's data centres comprise complex, multivendor environments that can make taking advantage of these options difficult.

HP Technology Services can help customers solve the challenges posed by these new technologies and ultimately deliver better flexibility and agility in their networks. Serving as a single point of contact, HP works closely with customers to develop a network modernisation vision and roadmap that incorporates open standards, IPv6 and SDN. In addition, HP also provides flexible support to help operate and evolve heterogeneous data centre networks to meet changing business needs.

"Many enterprises and governments struggle to implement strategic data centre projects because IT resources are bogged down with maintenance issues and network inefficiencies," said Keith Bothma, HP Networking Country Manager, HP South Africa. "By reducing complexity, improving connectivity and optimising performance, HP Technology Services allows customers to shift their resources from IT administration to innovation."

Aligning the enterprise around a strategic network vision

The HP Connectivity Transformation Experience Workshop helps customers achieve network scale and agility with a defined strategy that aligns business and IT goals. During the interactive workshop, HP experts walk customers through key considerations, such as SDN and IPv6, so they can develop a clearly defined vision for an agile network infrastructure that can scale up or down to meet dynamic business and user demands.

Pragmatic journey to embrace IPv6

In today's always connected workplace, Internet protocol touches everything in an enterprise. As a result, organisations must consider the impact of an IPv6 transition across their entire IT environment. HP Technology Services provides customers with access to experienced consultants who can help develop the best transition roadmap for IPv6. The HP IPv6 Roadmap Service considers all six of the domains affected by this transition, including the network, security, infrastructure, devices, applications, governance and finance. HP experts work closely with customers to devise a clear plan for a seamless network transformation and the move to IPv6.

"To successfully make the move to IPv6, we needed a clear global strategy to make the most of this foundational change," said Hans-Peter Schober, Head of Networks and Communication for Corporate IT Infrastructure Strategy, Continental AG. "Working with HP Consulting Services, we developed a roadmap for incorporating IPv6 across our entire IT environment that supports business growth and seamless communication, while mitigating the risk of downtime."

Support that evolves to meet changing network demands

Software-defined data centres and heterogeneous environments are complex to maintain and manage. Issues require multiple vendor support calls before a problem can be diagnosed and resolved, wasting time and causing costly downtime.

HP Datacentre Care for Networking is a flexible, comprehensive, relationship-based approach to support and management of heterogeneous data centre networks. Based on a framework of repeatable, tested and globally available services, HP Datacentre Care for Networking provides a single point of contact to help customers support and evolve their data centre network fabric. Customers have direct access to a trained expert who knows their business and IT environment to quickly and easily diagnose and resolve network issues. In addition to reactive support, HP helps customers select the best proactive services to reduce IT administrative tasks and focus on technology innovation.

Pricing and availability

The HP Connectivity Transformation Experience Workshop, HP IPv6 Roadmap Service and HP Datacentre Care for Networking are available now globally. Pricing varies according to location and implementation.

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world's largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.co.za.

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