HP puts it all together in mobility push

HP’s mobility message came echoing out of the Alps this week as the device, platform and software provider introduced at Telecom World in Geneva, Switzerland, a range of products in each category to illustrate its end-to-end commitment to advancing wireless data and content adoption.

HP showed how it is delivering on mobility, one of the four key corporate directives of Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina, by introducing a plethora of mobile-ready and mobile-enabled devices as well as announcing deployments of the systems and platforms for delivering services to them.

"Our focus is end-to-end, from the device back to the core network and all the component pieces needed in between to bring forth the next generation of mobility capabilities," said Phil McKinney, vice president and CTO of HP’s network service provider business unit. "And more important, it is to create a compelling user experience through all the solutions we deliver to the telecom industry as a whole."

HP introduced the new HP Integrity cx2600 server, a 64-bit Itanium platform for service providers that provides 40% better than previous servers, is carrier-grade and as McKinney said, "It provides a platform that allows service providers to take advantage of Moore’s Law over time in their telco network infrastructure."

The company said it is working with Bell Mobility in Canada to deliver location-based services, the first of which provides directions based on a mobile user’s location. HP also announced it is building a Wi-Fi hotspot for Toronto International Airport and has deployed its Service Delivery Platform to a 3G operator in Taiwan.

Working with Transat Technologies, HP demonstrated open roaming between WiFi hotspots and Dobson Cellular’s network. "Roaming between WiFi operators is still a challenge and offering roaming capability between the operators is still critical to creating a broad footprint," McKinney said.

Also on the Wi-Fi front, HP integrated a solution for Telecom Italia’s entrance into the market. As part of a complete solution including system integration, HP deployed its Wi-Fi-enabled iPAQ Pocket PCs, network and authentication servers, a Wi-Fi location-based portal, service activation, the HP prepaid and postpaid solution, OpenView software for network and service management, Web rendering, and back-end Unix and Windows-based servers.

"We wanted to be a first mover and time was critical," said Claudio Contini, marketing director of data services for Telecom Italia at HP’s Telecom World press conference. "HP gave us the major building blocks to build the platform and they managed all the system integration. As a result of this cooperation, it took less than three months to build from scratch a complete range of new services and applications."

Telecom Italia decided to launch a Wi-Fi service in December of 2002 and by March of this year deployed a Wi-Fi hotspot at the Cross-Country Skiing World Championships at Val di Fiemme/Fassa.

The OpenView platform mentioned above is part of HP’s Integrated Services Platform for OSS/BSS, which in turn is part of another announcement with Microsoft. HP is now offering ISM on Microsoft’s .NET platform. Albacom, an Italian service provider and SA Outsourcing, an IT outsourcer in Europe and South Africa, have deployed ISM.NET.

During HP’s press conference on Sunday, Fiorina said, "After fits and starts and after an industry that has been in major difficulty and under duress, mobility now is at a tipping point."

The announcements the company made this week will show how HP is helping the world move to a point where, "Every process, every physical, analog process will become digital, mobile and virtual," she said.