HP Wins Cloud Infrastructure Bid at SHI International


Global IT provider chooses HP Networking solutions to simplify infrastructure, ease management and reduce costs

PALO ALTO, Calif. - HP today announced that SHI International has selected HP Networking solutions as the network infrastructure for its new Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Cloud Center.

SHI, a $3 billion global provider of information technology software, hardware and
services, needed a single, scalable networking architecture that would be
affordable and capable of supporting the complex technical requirements of its new
Cloud Center. According to SHI, its existing networking environment was complex
and difficult to manage, which led the company to solicit competitive bids for
building its new cloud computing infrastructure.

"The IaaS Cloud Service initiative will be the source of significant growth and
differentiation for our company," said Henry Fastert, chief technologist, SHI. "After
testing several solutions, we found that HP's technology delivered the features and
flexibility we needed to drive a dynamic business, along with the competitive price
advantage that we needed to support our expansion plans."

To facilitate SHI's entrance into the IaaS space, the SHI Cloud Services practice
designed a powerful new "service core"-based architecture using HP Converged
Infrastructure. A service core is a predefined collection of servers, storage and
networking elements that is replicated multiple times to form the building blocks that
populate the Cloud Center.

The new offering by SHI will focus on the creation of "industrial-grade" virtual
machines targeted at the IT user. These virtual machines can be used for production
application deployment, disaster recovery, outsourced IT solutions (for example,
Software as a Service), as well as "burst" computing services for businesses of all
sizes.

Burst computing services enable SHI customers to handle peaks in technology
demand, such as holidays for online retailers. Available on demand, burst
computing services can be scaled up or down, eliminating the need for any upfront
investment in hardware by SHI's customers.

SHI selected HP Networking technology due to its open, standards-based
architecture and innovative capabilities. This includes the HP Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF), a virtual switching technology available with HP's A-series core
networking solutions, which unifies multiple switches into a single, resilient
virtualized network fabric.

Interconnections within a network switch - typically achieved by wires and complex
protocols - can be handled virtually, from one IP address, by IRF. This enables SHI
to quickly adapt to changing business and client demands by increasing network
performance, resilience and availability.

The HP A Series switching and routing products selected by SHI include the HP
A12500 core data center switches for high performance and agility of virtualized
servers. Included with the HP A12500 is the HP Intelligent Management Center
(IMC), which enables SHI to manage the network from a single platform, easing
administration and reducing costs.

HP is helping SHI in the pursuit of its Instant-On Enterprise. In a world of continuous
connectivity, the Instant-On Enterprise embeds technology in everything it does to
serve customers, employees, partners and citizens with everything they need,
instantly.

The data center networking technology selected by SHI is part of a comprehensive
HP Converged Infrastructure solution that includes HP ProLiant servers and HP
storage solutions. HP Converged Infrastructure is a key foundation of an Instant-On
Enterprise.

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 (NYSE: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.

Editorial Contacts
Erin Collopy, HP
+1 408 390 6783
erin.collopy@hp.com

HP Media Hotline
+1 866 266 7272
www.hp.com/go/newsroom

Hewlett-Packard Company
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304
www.hp.com

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