HP Offers Telecoms Cost-effective BladeSystem with 24/7 Capabilities of NonStop Systems

PALO ALTO, Calif., HP today expanded its portfolio of carrier-grade systems with a blade platform designed to help service providers reduce costs and efficiently expand capacity.

As a foundation for wireless and wired networks, the HP Integrity NonStop NB50000c-cg Carrier-grade (CG) BladeSystem delivers the 24/7 availability, extreme scalability and high performance of HP NonStop systems. At the same time, it provides the modular flexibility and efficiency of the industry-leading HP c-Class BladeSystem platform.

The HP Integrity NonStop CG BladeSystem provides significant performance gains over its predecessors and occupies less physical space. This is an important benefit in crowded telecom “central offices” and data centers. Compared to the HP Integrity NonStop NS5000CG server, it delivers twice the performance in half the physical footprint. Compared to equivalent HP NonStop S-Series carrier-grade servers, it offers up to four times the processing capacity in half the footprint.

The new system’s blade architecture provides customers a lower initial cost for comparable NonStop server processing power – with the flexibility to scale up as the business requires. Over the long term, its smaller footprint, reduced power consumption and more efficient cooling combine to deliver a lower total cost of ownership.

“Verizon Wireless has built the nation’s most reliable wireless network, and HP NonStop technology has played a critical part in that success,” said Dan Belenets, executive director, National Network Operations, Verizon Wireless. “We think the HP Integrity NonStop BladeSystem will provide superior reliability, greater performance and reduced costs.”

Built to meet stringent global telecom requirements, the service availability and scalability of the HP Integrity NonStop CG BladeSystem make it ideal for use in a wide variety of network applications, including the popular HP OpenCall Home Location Register (HLR). This solution supports more than 200 million mobile subscribers worldwide.

In addition, the platform supports many Intelligent Network applications, including network enablers for both text and multimedia messaging as well as location services. Business and operations support systems (BSS and OSS) also can be hosted on the HP Integrity NonStop CG Platform. To support advanced services, the platform is ready for networks that include Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technologies, such as the HP OpenCall Home Subscriber Server, which handles core mobility functions.

“Operators will be able to modernize their networks to meet rapid growth in voice, data and multimedia usage with this new platform,” said Winston Prather, vice president and general manager, NonStop Division, HP. “Backed by the company’s telecom heritage and advanced blade engineering, the HP Integrity NonStop CG BladeSystem delivers an unprecedented combination of high performance, extreme reliability and low cost.”

The HP Integrity NonStop CG BladeSystem also has a commercial, enterprise-class counterpart that is optimized for IT applications. As telephony and enterprise environments converge, a common foundation that can support both telephony and IT needs provides valuable flexibility for service providers.

HP continues 30 years of innovation in telecom In 1987, HP NonStop servers were the first commercial platform to host mission-critical applications that were offloaded from the switch, the core engine in a telecom network. Today, HP servers are widely deployed in the telecom network at key off-switch nodes, or “service control points.”

With the HP Integrity NonStop CG BladeSystem, HP advances its strategy to migrate the attributes of telecom mainframe-class systems to bladed architectures. This builds on last year’s launch of the HP BladeSystem CG Platform, which uses Intel® Xeon® series processors and the Linux operating system.

The HP Integrity NonStop CG BladeSystem features a new telecom-specific input/output (I/O) infrastructure that leverages standards-based processing engines called Cluster I/O Modules (CLIMs). By offloading specific processing tasks from the host HP NonStop server, the CLIMs increase performance and reduce I/O and storage processing costs.

The new platform ships with three carrier-grade CLIMs, with others to follow in 2009:

* An IP CG CLIM for system networking protocols, IPSec and Ethernet connectivity;
* A Storage CG CLIM for various HP storage disks and arrays; and
* A Telecom CLIM that handles the M3UA layer for Signaling System 7 messages over a digital, IP-based system.

The HP Integrity NonStop CG BladeSystem is supported by a full complement of management tools and applications, including HP Systems Insight Manager.
Built to serve specific telecom needs The HP platform is designed to meet specific requirements of carrier-grade environments:

* NEBS Level 3 rack certification – a telecom industry standard that ensures hardware platforms provide high levels of reliability in all conditions
* Power supply – NEBS-certified – 36 to -72 volt direct current for central office use

The HP Integrity NonStop CG BladeSystem is now available worldwide. More information is available at www.hp.com/go/nonstop/bladesystem/telco.

About HP HP, the world’s largest technology company, provides printing and personal computing products and IT services, software and solutions that simplify the technology experience for consumers and businesses. HP completed its acquisition of EDS on Aug. 26, 2008. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

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