AppIQ founder sold on HP

HP acquired storage-management software vendor AppIQ last month and named company founderAsh Ashutosh CTO for HP's storage software group. Network World Senior Editor Deni Connor recently spoke with Ashutosh about his new job and the market. An edited transcript of that conversation follows.

Why exactly did HP acquire AppIQ? It seems you were doing pretty well on your own - you OEM software to Sun, Hitachi and Engenio.

A couple of reasons - HP wanted to gain dominance in servers, regain market share in storage hardware and dominate the management-software business. If you look at those areas, AppIQ had announced an initiative for open management called OpenIQ, which is middleware that lets you build an infrastructure-management system. HP saw good synergies with that and with the server-management software we had been working with for a while.

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HP acquired storage-management software vendor AppIQ last month and named company founderAsh Ashutosh CTO for HP's storage software group. Network World Senior Editor Deni Connor recently spoke with Ashutosh about his new job and the market. An edited transcript of that conversation follows.

Why exactly did HP acquire AppIQ? It seems you were doing pretty well on your own - you OEM software to Sun, Hitachi and Engenio.

A couple of reasons - HP wanted to gain dominance in servers, regain market share in storage hardware and dominate the management-software business. If you look at those areas, AppIQ had announced an initiative for open management called OpenIQ, which is middleware that lets you build an infrastructure-management system. HP saw good synergies with that and with the server-management software we had been working with for a while.

Doesn't HP face competitive threats if it continues to be the OEM for AppIQ software?

They do, but if they truly want to be a heterogeneous storage-software vendor, they have to have multiple distribution channels - ones that are owned by competitors. HP is taking a pragmatic approach to the market. We are bent on winning, but we also realize that HP can't sell everything alone.

Was AppIQ looking for a buyer?

We were not. As late as July, we were meeting with bankers about an IPO 18 to 24 months out. We were doing well. We looked at the opportunity and what the bankers said our valuation would be. We realized not only was HP a good culture fit for us, but also HP would be a partner that we could get closer with. In terms of an exit strategy for investors, it was a win.

What are the benefits for HP of the HP/AppIQ combination?

We see this as a huge storage- and server-management partnership. We are moving the paradigm away from storage management, but adding effective server management to create an adaptive enterprise. Then we will drag in other products HP has, like its back-up and storage products. Finally, it becomes a centerpiece of the company's goal of becoming the dominant management-software provider.

What are the benefits of the acquisition to the customer, especially one with non-HP gear?

Nothing has changed. This continues to be a company that develops heterogeneous management solutions that are standards-based, and that works through partners. What has changed from a customer perspective is the uncertainty of what would happen to AppIQ. At least now, if I was a customer, I know for sure that the platform is going to be supported by HP. HP has also added more than 200% new resources to the product to work on issues AppIQ had planned to do over the next two years.

What is the future of storage-management software? How is it changing?

At the outset, we said that by 2006 or 2007, if someone is still in the business of storage management alone, they are probably in the wrong business. Enterprises have tools that can manage everything. AppIQ has started to do this with server and application management.