HP's service management silence is deafening

Nine months after acquiring service management vendor Prolin, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenView division has yet to show any benefit from the transaction.

The absence of Prolin-enhanced OpenView products is underscored by speculation among HP third-party developers, integrators and other observers that HP does not know what to do with Prolins technology. But HP claims it is currently shipping Prolin-based service management tools, and many believe HP will demonstrate the jewels of the acquisition in a couple of weeks.

Prolin, located in Amsterdam, is a developer of help desk, change and configuration management software and reporting and accounting software.

The companys flagship product, Prolin IT Service Manager (ITSM), consists of a suite of eight integrated software modules that help businesses manage IT infrastructure and the services that support business operations.

HP acquired Prolin to bolster its fledgling IT service management initiative. But to date, all is quiet on the Prolin front.

Unclear position

"I think it's pretty obvious they didn't know exactly where to position [ITSM]," said Paul Edmunds, senior network analyst at Duke Power Co., in Charlotte, N.C.

Duke has no plans to use Prolin technology, having just closed a deal with help desk vendor and OpenView third-party developer Remedy Corp., Edmunds said.

But he said he expects HP to make a splash with Prolin and ITSM at the OpenView Universe conference March 3 in Boston.

"I'm actually waiting for their major announcement at HP Universe," said Vishal Desai, president of Savli Group, Inc., in Silver Spring, Md. "That's where they're looking to roll out a much more comprehensive strategy, [with] integration points between PerfView and Prolin and some of the other applications."

PerfView is HP's performance measurement application.

HP currently is shipping a version of its IT/Operations systems management software with ITSM enhancements, "such as the ability to configure service-level objectives... so they will monitor and report response time violations," said Martin Haworth, manager of solutions and support services for the OpenView division.

No progress

Third parties, though, said they are unaware of progress since the Prolin acquisition.

"It was a good move. It was very timely, and they selected a good product," said Saverio Merlo, vice president of marketing at Boole & Babbage, Inc., an HP OpenView Premier partner that also is focused on the service management market.

"How well they've integrated the product since, I really don't know," he said.

"It certainly filled a gap. Previously, they were relying solely on partners," said Rick Sturm, principal at Enterprise Management Professional Services, Inc., a Boulder, Colo., network management consultancy. "I haven't seen [ITSM] . . . giving them any material advantage" in service management, he said.