HP Expands BladeSystem Portfolio with Carrier-Grade Platform for Telecom Companies


PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 5, 2007 - HP today announced the expansion of its HP
BladeSystem c-Class portfolio with a new carrier-grade version optimized for the needs
of telecom service providers and network equipment suppliers.

The HP BladeSystem Carrier-Grade Platform provides a cost-effective and flexible
foundation for wireless and wired infrastructure - delivering the high levels of reliability and performance required by the telecom industry.

According to data from the industry-analyst firm IDC, HP's blade servers lead the industry with 42.1 percent market share worldwide measured by revenue. In the third quarter of 2007, HP's blade server revenue grew 79.6 percent year over year.(1)

"As telecom and enterprise environments converge, many service providers see real
advantages in a single server family that can support both their telephony and IT needs," said Lee Doyle, group vice president, Network Infrastructure and Security Products, IDC. "HP has a strong footprint in both worlds, and its dual expertise is reflected in the new HP BladeSystem carrier-grade platform."

Service providers will be able to deploy the carrier-grade BladeSystem platform in the IPbased (Internet Protocol) next-generation networks they are building. Examples include: Intelligent Network (IN) elements, Internet Multi-Media Subsystem (IMS), service delivery platforms, security systems, media servers, digital television (IPTV) platforms, and messaging (SMS, or texting).

At the same time, they can deploy the enterprise-class version across a range of
applications in IT data centers and in operations and business support systems (OSS and
BSS), such as: network management and service assurance, billing, revenue assurance,
customer care, business intelligence and fraud management.

"HP delivers and supports a broad array of telecom software, services and architectures,
and it's all built on proven HP carrier-grade hardware and a global supply chain of
support," said Sebastiano Tevarotto, vice president and general manager,
Communications, Media and Entertainment, HP. "HP has a 30 year track record in this
industry, and this new BladeSystem platform again demonstrates the value of our
experience in both telecom and IT."

The HP BladeSystem Carrier-Grade Platform is expected to be available worldwide in
January at the same price of equivalent commercial HP BladeSystem enclosures and
blades.

Low cost, flexibility and technology leadership

The HP BladeSystem Carrier-Grade Platform includes all the key advantages of the
commercial version:
o To cut costs and integration time, the HP BladeSystem c7000-cg enclosure consolidates
into a single chassis the telecom and enterprise infrastructure, such as cables, power
supplies and fans, networking, redundancy and other components. The enclosure
supports up to 16 server blades and adds useful features that save maintenance time,
reduce energy costs and minimize risk by simplifying change.
o HP BladeSystem BL460c-cg server blade provides high-performance computing with
reliability and energy efficiency. The 2P server blade combines dual-core Intel® Xeon®
series processor performance with greater memory capacity, hot plug SAS drives,
simultaneous support of multiple I/O cards, and enhanced remote management.
o HP Virtual Connect architecture simplifies connections to local-area network and
storage-area network environments, enabling administrators to wire once, then add,
replace and recover server resources on the fly. It further minimizes complexity by
reducing the number of network cables up to 94 percent. Virtual Connect is available
in Ethernet or Fibre Channel options.

Built to serve specific telecom needs

The HP BladeSystem Carrier-Grade platform is designed to meet the specific
requirements of carrier-grade environments:
o NEBS Level 3 rack certification - a telecom industry standard that ensures hardware
platforms provide high levels of reliability in all conditions: temperature, humidity, fire, earthquake resistance (seismic rack), handling, airborne contaminants and acoustics;
o Power supply - NEBS-compliant - 36 volt to 72 volt direct current for central office
application;
o Product lifecycles - extended three-year product sales, which exceed norms of 18
months for commercial IT servers.

Industry standards are important for service providers that are evolving their telephony
and IT networks to be more modular, scalable and flexible. HP is an active participant in the Carrier Grade Linux forum, and the HP BladeSystem Carrier-Grade Platform supports
both RedHat RHEL 5.x and Debian GNU/Linux with HP Telco Extensions, an official,
carrier-grade Linux for which HP provides extensive service and support offerings. HP
will also support other Linux distributions on a case-by-case basis.

HP is a founding member and active participant in the OpenSAF (Service Availability
Forum) Foundation. The company supports the OpenSAF specification and its embedded
OpenHPI (hardware platform interface) technology. Related to this, HP has announced
the availability of an OpenHPI plug-in for the HP BladeSystem Carrier-Grade servers.

More information is available at hp.com/go/bladesystem/carriergrade.

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers - from
individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing,
personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world's
largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $104.3 billion for the four fiscal quarters
ended Oct. 31, 2007. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at
www.hp.com.

(1) IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, November 2007

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