HP’s Software Reincarnation

The CTO of the world’s sixth-largest software vendor says innovation and software will be the key to HP’s future success.

By Maryann Jones Thompson, Sand Hill Group

Shane Robison holds the reins of $3.6 billion in R&D investment. As chief strategy and technology officer for HP, Robison is one of the most powerful innovators in the industry.

His focus? Software.

It may have been printers, PCs and servers that made HP one of the world’s top IT companies, but it will be software that drives HP into the next era.

Speaking at Software 2007, Robison laid out his vision for HP’s software-powered future and outlined how HP is mapping its solutions to the shifts going on in enterprise technology today.

Is Your Company the “Next Big Thing”?

Enterprise 2007, the tenth anniversary, invitation-only gathering of software CEOs will take place in July at Pebble Beach, Calif. The “Next Big Thing” session at Enterprise 2007 will showcase a hand-picked group of five up-and-coming software companies. The session has become one of the most successful at the conference – seven former “Next Big Thing” companies have been acquired for $2.5 billion. Click here to nominate a company to be one of 2007’s Next Big Thing companies.

Driving Adoption of SaaS Apps

However usable they promise to be, software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps aren’t necessarily any better than on-premise apps in terms of creating business value. In the SandHill.com Blog on SaaS, Chrise Dowse of NeoChange says that closing three expectation gaps can help improve the adoption and business value of SaaS apps.

How to Pick a Partner

It can be difficult to identify which vendors are truly committed to channel marketing – and which aren’t. Allan Adler of Crimson Consulting points out 5 indicators that solultion providers can watch for to determine which vendors to partner with in this week’s post to the SandHill.com Blog on channel management.

Linux in the Dell

The Microsoft-Linux battle continues to get hotter. Guy Smith of Silicon Strategies takes a closer look at Dell’s recent announcement on SuSE Linux and how it helps push Microsoft’s “IP FUD” in this week’s post to the SandHill.com Blog on open source.

Oracle Gets Agile

The drive to consolidate the number of software players continues. S. Sadagopan of Satyam explains why Oracle’s acquisition of Agile Software will help enable the company to take on IBM, Dassault and SAP in this post to his SandHill.com blog, The Deep End.

Publish Your Perspective!

The SandHill.com Blog wants your opinions. Send your thoughts on the enterprise software industry to editor@sandhill.com and we’ll publish them in our blog.

Software 2007 Highlights Online Now!

Watch videos of the first keynote speakers, Hasso Plattner and Shane Robison, and see the Innovation Panelists in action as well. Every week, new videos will be added to the post-conference site – visit and see these software visionaries speak about the future of the industry!

News Update: An Open-ing Salvo

Microsoft threatens open source vendors with patent infringement; plus, Soros changes his software bets, Aquantive hits the jackpot and Salesforce.com wins customers. Read these stories and more software news of the week in the latest SandHill.com Software News Summary.

DON’T MISS: Meet a Next-Generation CIO

Tom Sanzone, CIO of Credit Suisse, is the epitome of today’s business-driven CIO. In a Q&A, Sanzone explains how his broad authority within the company helps keep IT aligned with the business strategy in this article from The McKinsey Quarterly.

Poll: Top Investors in Innovation?

HP says it is committed to the “R” in “R&D.” Which software companies are the best at innovation research?
Take our Pulse Poll >>

Last week, readers gave their opinions about how impactful SAP’s next-gen app, A1S would be when it hits the market.
Give us your opinion and see the results >>

More at SandHill.com:

What are Google and Salesforce.com talking about?
Read the most important enterprise software industry news of the week >>

e-Project receives $12 million.
Monitor the latest software venture capital deals >>

Microsoft pays $6 billion for aQuantive.
Size up last week's software M&A deals >>

Attunity names Mel Passarelli as VP of Sales for North America.
See who’s made it to the top in our list of recent software executive appointments.

Send us your feedback on this newsletter and the SandHill.com site.

Parting Thought

“It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.”
— Mark Twain

Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group