PALO ALTO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/12/12 -- HP (NYSE: HPQ) today announced the HP FlexNetwork Utility Advantage Program enabling communication service providers (CSPs) to offer managed network solutions on a pay-per-use basis,(1) creating new revenue opportunities without capital investment.

Enterprises spend more than 70 percent of their IT budget keeping the lights on, leaving less than 30 percent for innovation.(2) However, they need to invest in network upgrades that support initiatives like cloud, mobility, bring your own device (BYOD) and rich media, which drive innovation and business growth.

The HP FlexNetwork Utility Advantage Program enables CSPs, in collaboration with HP, to help enterprise customers modernize their network with standard, prepackaged networking solutions, including hardware and software, with no upfront cost. Customers then contract with the CSP for the managed network offerings they need to support initiatives that speed innovation on a pay-per-use basis.

"Our customers want to focus on running their business rather than operating networks for employee access to applications like voice and videoconferencing," said Oliver Spring, head of Product Line Management, Swisscom. "With HP's FlexNetwork Utility Advantage Program, we can close the gap in our managed service offerings to deliver a networking infrastructure that allows our customers to move beyond operations to innovation."

Leveraging solutions based on the HP FlexNetwork architecture, an open, standards-based architecture that is software-defined networking (SDN) enabled, the program enables CSPs to rapidly upgrade and future-proof their customer's network. As a result, their enterprise customers can reap the benefits of cloud, mobility and BYOD initiatives without capital investment, while freeing IT resources to focus on innovation that drives growth, as opposed to network infrastructure management.

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

Unifying wired and wireless networks for consistent user experience
CSPs leveraging the HP FlexNetwork Utility Advantage Program also can deliver a unified wired and wireless local area network (WLAN) solution for cloud services or applications, on a pay-per-use basis.

"We have seen increased enterprise adoption of cloud-managed pay-per-use wireless local area network offerings," said Tim Zimmerman, vice president, Gartner. "We advise customers to deploy integrated wired and wireless networks with a single management application to deliver consistent services and simplify operations."

Availability

• The HP FlexNetwork Utility Advantage Program is available worldwide through authorized CSPs.
• Additional information for enterprises interested in learning how HP FlexNetwork Utility Advantage Program can benefit them is available here.
• Additional information for CSPs interested in participating in the HP FlexNetwork Utility Advantage Program is available here.

About HP
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 is available at http://www.hp.com.

(1) Pay-per-use is based on the equipment usage by the customers and HP maintains the ownership to the equipment. Customers can use ports (activate/deactivate) based on specific terms and agreements with their service provider and are subject to monthly support services fees.

(2) Based on HP internal research.

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