OREANDA-NEWS. Russia’s first HP Solution Center, a test site for IT unit automation and security management solutions, has opened at CROC. Seven families of the vendor’s software products are installed at the demonstration center - the full range of solutions offered by HP. These products help improve IT service management, ensure alignment with business goals, evaluate IT initiative implementation, optimize data storage, and better protect information.

“CROC’s HP technology solution center helps open a constructive dialogue between CIOs and senior executives. IT directors will be able to test the speed and quality of business transactions which directly affect internal and external customer satisfaction (Business Service Management). In addition, they will discover the benefits of IT Financial Management (ITFM) and therefore have convincing arguments when negotiating the initiation, evaluation, planning and implementation of IT projects with senior executives,” says Georgy Ovanesyan, Head of ITIL/ITSM Consulting and IT Infrastructure Monitoring and Management at CROC.

“IT unit transformation to the service model, i.e. from a cost center to a strategic resource for joint objective achievement, is a key IT management trend today. This is why it is so important for an IT director to have the right product portfolio to jumpstart when the business asks. For example, the Cloud Service Automation cloud management platform allows for faster ‘go-to-market.’ As a result, a major telecom operator quickly launched a new summer plan using the private cloud without having to buy any additional capacities,” adds Alexander Khludenev, Deputy Director General for Prospective Business Development.

“HP Corporation has dozens of demonstration centers around the globe, both specialized (i.e. devoted to specific solution families) and enterprise-wide. Such centers are often created jointly with HP partner companies. The solution center which we have organized with CROC is focused on IT efficiency management methodologies and software to help customers gain quick returns,” says Andrey Kutukov, HP Software General Manager, Russia. “In my opinion, the opportunity to review solutions against specific business needs, analyze how technologies perform under customized scenarios, and develop a proper IT service roadmap are the key benefits of interest for attendees.”

“HP is fully committed to bring the new style of IT to the Russian market, enabling our partners to boost innovation through cutting-edge technologies and solutions,” says Gilles Thiebaut, Vice President of HP Enterprise Group Indirect Sales in EMEA. “We are excited to start this new journey with our long-term strategic partner CROC; through the opening of this unique HP Solution Center, together we will help Russian customers to test and experience the most advanced hardware solutions, sharing best practices on the path to our joint and ever-growing success.”

“Bashinformsvyaz has automated a helpdesk based on HP software as part of an integrated IT process management system. IT asset management optimization is one of our short-term objectives. To this end, we are looking at HP Asset Management and Executive Scorecard solutions, which are included in the HP ITFM. We have decided not to change the manufacturer to avoid additional integration and related risks. However, we don’t want to ‘buy a pig in a poke,’ so testing via the HP Solution Center is thus a great opportunity. Here we can try out the system to see how it fits into our infrastructure before making the final decision on implementation,” says Irina Timilova, Head of IT Management, Bashinformsvyaz.

CROC’s demonstration center also features HP Business Service Automation (BSA) for centralized IT infrastructure management; the Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) software and hardware product suite which optimizes data storage and management based on business value of relevant information; HP TippingPoint intrusion prevention systems; and HP ArcSight information security and log management solutions.