HP Slashes Prices for Midrange Servers

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HP sought to bolster its server market share Thursday with the announcement of new pricing for its midrange servers that would be 20 percent lower than the current offerings in its Unix-based machines family.

Dimitris Dovas, midrange server line manager at HP, said the Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm is also adding new services and increased functionality to its HP 9000 midrange UNIX server family. This includes the 16-processor HP Server rp8400 and the eight-processor HP Server rp7410 and rp7405.

According to market research firm IDC, HP has been the market share leader for the midrange for the last six years. Still, Dovas said HP is taking measures to quell opposition from the likes of Sun and IBM, who saw their positions atop the Unix server market change after HP digested Compaq.

Jean S. Bozman, a vice president of research at IDC, praised HP for its staying power at a time when infrastructure spending is constrained.

“It’s a remarkable showing of market share strength in the midrange UNIX server segment,” Bozman said.

HP seemed confident in its position, too.

“The competition can only envy the superior midrange value, functionality and investment protection HP offers at very attractive prices,” said Mark Hudson, vice president of marketing, HP Business Critical Systems, in a press statement.

Dovas also discussed custom configuration services to help customers get systems up and running faster. The new offering provides customers with free factory configuration services, including partitioning, custom component installation and custom software system load.

Dovas also said his company will offer new cell board capacity-on-demand for its midrange line, including CPU, memory and cell board. The HP On Demand programs is geared to help customers manage IT budgets and respond quickly to changing business requirements. Programs include instant Capacity on Demand and Pay Per Use solutions.

“With today’s announced price adjustments and new services, HP is offering a combination of competitive prices, high performance and advanced features to its installed base and to new customers,” Bozman said.