The company revealed its HP FlexNetwork Utility Advantage Programme earlier this week at an event in central London. Representatives from HP were on hand to claims the new pay-per-use networking programme will allow enterprises to apply the principles of “cloud economics” to enterprise network procurement.
Speaking at the event, Mike Banic, vice president of global marketing at HP, was reported by British IT publication IT Pro as saying: “In some places of the network, the infrastructure is overutilised… and in other places it’s underutilised. In other words, it doesn’t fluctuate with the needs of the business.”
The scheme will see HP partner up with communications service providers to supply networking kit to customers on a pay-per-use basis. This, the company claims, should put a stop to firms investing in network capacity that isn’t used.
“These are an important set of opportunities for us to address,” said Banic.
Traditionally, network investments have always been considered as a capital expense that’s been “carried on the balance sheet”, he said.
The programme aims to change that and free up funds that can be reinvested in “innovative” IT projects. It will also help firms meet the demands placed on networks by cloud, BYOD and unified communications.
The programme will only be offered to customers through HP’s service providers, as the firm has no plans to offer it directly.
