It must be that time again... more software announcements from HP
HP's troubled relationship with middleware technology has been well-documented (see
here and
here for examples). Now, after a relatively quiet period HP is making a flurry of announcements about new deals. Hot on the heels of the acquisition of archiving software vendor
OuterBay last week, it's announced today that it's deepening its middleware reseller relationship with Oracle. From HP's own press release:
HP plans to develop and deliver SOA-based business services that help customers automate business processes and integrate disparate data and applications, while leveraging existing applications.
The challenge for HP in playing the SOA card has long been that most enterprises are still coming at SOA from a development/integration perspective – where HP has little in the way of capability to directly support them. This means it needs to partner with the likes of Oracle, Microsoft, and BEA. And of course correspondingly, the challenge for Oracle in pitching SOA is that customers deploying Fusion Middleware will ultimately need to manage the applications they build.
On paper it makes sense then – but from HP's initial communication about this partnership, it's difficult to see why customers interested in SOA and Oracle's technology would turn to HP, which seems to just be pitching its installation services into the mix and missing the opportunity to promote its own
IT service management capabilities in the context of SOA projects.
I wonder if this is a case of left-hand-doesn't-know-what-right-hand's-doing...
