Hewlett-Packard announced new products to help small and medium business save money, including printers and software that improves remote support services.
The company announced Insight Remote Support, software that automatically detects hardware problems on servers and storage devices. After detecting a problem, the software also generates support service requests.
For example, if the software detects a server or storage device going down, it will notify Hewlett-Packard or a service provider, who will then send a technician to fix problem, depending on the service contract. The software determines hardware problems by monitoring hardware components like storage, memory and disks on a server.
The remote support software prevents server downtime and could be attractive for customers who are not technically savvy, an HP spokeswoman said. As hardware is remotely monitored, companies can also spend more time focusing on their business instead of IT support.
HP previously offered remote support servers for SMBs, but the new software is more proactive and better handles the monitoring of different servers and storage configurations.
It is targeted at small and medium businesses that own HP servers or storage products with between 100 and 1,000 employees. The software supports HP's blade systems and servers including Proliant, Integrity and 9000 series that run the Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Novell Suse Linux operating systems. It also supports EVA storage devices.
It is available for free from HP's Insight Remote Support Web site.
HP also launched new OfficeJet inkjet printers on Wednesday, which the company claims prints pages faster while incurring lesser costs per page than earlier printers.
The HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One series of printers, which is priced between $299 and $499, can print pages at speeds comparable to laser printers. New HP Officejet Pro 8000 printers, priced between $149 and $179, include wired and wireless networking options for multiple users to print documents from remote locations. New HP Officejet 6500 All-in-One series printers includes wireless networking and are priced between $149 and $199.
The printers are expected to be available worldwide this month, according to HP.
