HP Launches 'Critical Advantage' Support

HP is adding a twist to its enterprise support offerings -- a package that includes both traditional "reactive" as well as a set of "proactive" support services.

Available starting today, HP (NYSE: HPQ) claims Critical Advantage is the first comprehensive service offering from a major technology vendor to deliver support for business-critical applications in virtualized x86 environments.

The new mission-critical support services are available for virtualized HP ProLiant servers and related IT assets including management software, blades and Red Hat Linux.

Critical Advantage offers 24 x 7 support starting with telephone and remote diagnosis of problems and onsite support if necessary. HP also offers an optional "6 hour-call-to-repair service," that guarantees the systems covered will be repaired in six hours or less. "You might want to assign, for example, your storage area network to the six hour repair program," said Akers. Pricing is based on customer requirements and the services are designed to scale over time to meet their needs.

"As enterprises virtualize their industry standards-based environments to control costs and gain flexibility, they are realizing the vast complexities the technology can introduce," Matt Healey, research manager for Software and Hardware Support Services at IDC, said in a statement. "End-to-end support services such as HP Critical Advantage can improve availability and reduce downtime of business-critical applications so that clients can fully realize the potential of virtualization."

HP's research indicates that a growing number of organizations see that a strong alignment between the enterprise and IT facilitates helping customer satisfaction. An HP-sponsored survey of over 350 CIOs and IT decision makers worldwide showed that 90 percent of senior IT executives "actively use technology as a catalyst for business or mission change."