Hewlett-Packard Unveils New Products for SMBs
In an effort to get a bigger share of the IT budgets of the 7.9 million American SMBs, Hewlett-Packard has unveiled a new line of products and services. The new products for small and medium-size businesses include everything from computers to servers. In addition, they’ve introduced new financing options, also aimed at SMBs. They are providing over $1,000 in software and services, and up to $2,000 in rebates for SMBs that make hardware purchases.
As far as computers go, the Pro 3000 series desktop and the ProLiant ML110 and DL120 G6 servers are all new and aimed at SMBs. As is the ProCurve 2520 Switch series which is great for SMBs looking to deploy voice, video, and wireless applications requiring power over ethernet. There’s also a new printer for SMBs, the LaserJetP2055D which costs about $299, along with two low-power monitors, the Compaq LE1911 and the Compaq LE1711.
A number of new storage products including the StorageWorks DAT 320 Tape Drive, the StorageWorks D2D backup system, and the LeftHand P4000 storage area network, were introduced, as were bundles of hardware and software that help SMBs introduce virtualization to their IT departments. They are built on ProLiant, ProCurve and StorageWorks products, as well as Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2.
In addition to the new products, HP also introduced a number of new online services. They allow users to communicate with employees and contacts and make it easier for IT employees to access, view, and control other computers to help with troubleshooting and fixing problems. HP is also offering Huddlenet which allows for easier collaboration, project management and document sharing. A 30-day trial with 20 GB of storage and that’s big enough for 20 work stations is available.
According to Interactive Data Corp, SMBs will spend more on IT than larger businesses as the economy continues to recover. HP is just one of several companies hoping to tap into that business and they could use it. Their profits fell 19% and revenue 2% in the quarter that ended on July 31st.