HP's POD Play: Page 2 of 3

Marketing hyperbole aside, HP appears to have the products, partners, manufacturing infrastructure, and data center experience to make containerized computing a reality. In addition, the POD highlights the value of HP’s February purchase of EYP Mission Critical Facilities, and we also believe the acquisition of EDS could complement HP’s effort. From the looks of things, EDS’s Data Center Modernization Service should fit right into the POD.

The question, then, becomes whether HP customers will want to make a place for the POD in their operations. For now, a definitive answer is impossible to ascertain. To our way of thinking, there are products vendors develop for customers’ current needs and those they create for future requirements. For the majority of organizations, containerized computing, whether provided by HP, IBM, Rackable, Sun, or others, fits firmly into the latter category, at least for now. But with four notable vendors addressing this market, we would not be surprised if enterprise customers increasingly look to containerized solutions for addressing significant data center and business problems.

— Charles King, Pund-IT president and principal analyst, focuses on business technology evolution and interpreting the effects these changes will have on vendors, their customers, and the greater IT marketplace. Charles began working in Silicon Valley in the early 1990s writing on technical, business, and strategy issues, then became an IT industry analyst in 1998. Since founding Pund-IT in December 2004, Charles has published the Pund-IT Weekly Review, which contains this blog and additional industry analysis. King has also produced numerous client projects, and has been quoted in a wide variety of IT industry and media outlets.

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