Stepping up its activities in the service provider space HP South Africa has revealed details of Integrated Service Management (ISM), a software-based multi-platform solution strategy.
The ISM solutions are all part of the HP OpenView Internet and enterprise management software suite. They manage mixed computing environments on HP and non-HP platforms both inside and across Internet firewalls.
The motivation behind the move stems in part from the fact that service providers face many challenges in the evolving and competitive market. Not least is the challenge of maximising an IT infrastructure to ensure they are as operationally-efficient as possible.
"Service providers - be they telecoms, network, storage, application or outsourcing - face pressure to deliver a high quality of service; they also have to look at ways of making money faster and improving their ability to retain customers," says Hannes Lategan, a software specialist at HP South Africa.
"That`s exactly where ISM comes in: it`s a suite of software that is tied to a business strategy ... and they both help service providers to improve operational performance by measuring, monitoring and troubleshooting across all elements of a service transaction - including next-generation voice and data networks, servers, storage, and applications."
ISM solutions also automate the actual life cycle of providing a service - all the way from the acquisition of a customer, to the moment an order is placed, to the service access, to the reporting and billing.
HP says that a selection of OpenView products combine to form the ISM suite, including:
. Service Information Portal 2.0 - software which enables service providers to offer customers a personalised view of their managed environment;
. Service Desk 4.0 - a consolidated service desk solution that enables business-driven service management;
. Internet Services 3.5 - online transaction monitoring software for large environments;
. Network Node Manager 6.2 - an enhanced version that includes improved performance trouble-shooting;
. Omniback II 4.0 - an enhanced SAN-ready data backup and recovery solution;
. Expanded HP OpenView eCare support - enhancements to the eCare online support services.
"These all help service providers improve customer satisfaction, maximise the revenues per customer, reducing SLA penalties, accelerate the deployment of new services, and consolidate infrastructure operations and control," says Lategan.
"But this is only the beginning. As the service provider market and e-businesses continue to grow in importance, we will build on ISM with increased functionality to help service providers be more competitive and successful."
The local news takes its lead from announcements made at the HP OpenView Universe 2001 in New Orleans this week. OpenView Universe, the company`s annual global software conference, updates customers, partners and press on the company`s software activities.
For more information on HP OpenView surf to http://www.openview.hp.com/products.
Fact file
In addition to the new releases, other HP OpenView ISM software products include the following:
. HP OpenView Operations for HP-UX, Solaris and Windows
. HP OpenView Service Navigator
. HP OpenView Reporter
. HP OpenView PolicyXpert
. HP OpenView ManageX
. HP OpenView Storage Area Management Suite
. HP Internet Usage Manager
. HP Process Manager
. HP OpenView Customer Care Support Services (Standard, Extended, Premier)
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