HP launches mobile products and services at ITU

At the ITU World Telecom conference in Geneva this week, Hewlett Packard will launch almost a dozen different services and products all focused on mobility.

In her keynote address on Sunday afternoon, CEO Carly Fiorina will layout the strategic message behind HPs massive launch.

Part of that message is a repetition of what the CEO told a group of industry analysts earlier last week at which time Fiorina laid out four major growth opportunities for HP and for the industry. These included management software, mobility, rich digital media and secure, trusted computing platforms.

Many of the hardware and software product announcements are targeted at the telecommunications carriers.

In a new partnership with Microsoft, HP will announce ISM.NET [Integrated Service Management] which will link operations and business support systems on a single .Net platform giving carriers the ability to deploy multiple networks, such as Wi-Fi and cellular while presenting the customer with a single bill.

In hardware, HP is unveiling Integrity cx2600, the first 64-bit Itanium carrier-grade server, deals with Italia Telecom to layout a Wi-Fi network infrastructure for the giant telecom provider, and a multi-million dollar deal to build out WiFi for the Toronto Pearson airport for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.

Client hardware announcements include new Intel Centrino-based notebook PCs, models 6000 and 8000, which will include IEEE 802.11a, b, and g, Bluetooth. Ipaq, Pocket PC h4150 and h4350 will also include Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and a new Tablet PC with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Combining both its own homegrown technology and technology from Transat Technologies, Dobson Cellular Systems will unveil the integration of a Wi-Fi network with a GSM/GPRS wide area network.

Cell phones are also part of the product launch. In a deal with Ericsson and Noki- both handset manufacturers will include HP printer drivers as part of the Bluetooth software stack in their camera phones.

The subliminal message coming out of Fiorina’s keynote appears to be that HP is one of the few companies with enough breadth of products and services to offer a solution that goes from “access to infrastructure”, said one HP executive.

 “The announcements are not aligned and constrained by our current business units. A true mobile experience has to come out of all divisions with cross-company growth initiatives,” said Shane Robison, chief strategy and technology officer for HP.