HP CSP Partners Gain Pay-Per-Use Option

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) figures that too many enterprises and public sector organizations can’t innovate their networks to support cloud, mobility, BYOD and rich media technologies because too much of their IT budgets go to keeping the lights on. The vendor figures businesses need a break and thinks it has just the thing. Read on for the details …

Under a new program called FlexNetwork Utility Advantage, HP’s communication service providers (CSPs) now can sell prepackaged networking solutions, including hardware and software, with no upfront capital investment by customers, who instead pay for the managed offering on a pay-per-use basis.

Customers contract with the CSP for the managed network offering that suits their needs, selecting from HP’s standard pre-packaged networking solutions, according to the vendor. Customers pay the CSP in a pay-as-you-go consumption-based model, enabling them to redirect money typically allocated for maintenance to network upgrades supporting technology such as the cloud, mobility, BYOD and rich media, officials said. The program is offered through CSPs worldwide.

Solutions are based on HP’s standards-based, open FlexNetwork architecture that is software-defined networking (SDN) enabled. Pre-packaging solutions helps CSPs to quickly upgrade and future-proof their customer’s network, according to the vendor.

“Cloud introduced consumption-based economics for a wide range of business applications,” said Bethany Mayer, HP Networking senior vice president and general manager. “HP FlexNetwork Utility Advantage Program brings these economic benefits to CSPs as they support their clients to pursue initiatives that drives growth and innovation.”

FlexNetwork Utility Advantage program participants also can deploy a unified wired and wireless local area network (WLAN) solution for cloud services or applications, on a pay-per-use basis, HP said.

HP CSP Swisscom noted that the program enables them to sell their customers on “moving beyond operations to innovation,” according to Oliver Spring, who heads the company’s product line management. “Our customers want to focus on running their business rather than operating networks for employee access to applications like voice and videoconferencing,” he said.