Unsure about HP Cloud Assure

Hewlett-Packard unveiled its HP Cloud Assure service this morning. For IT managers, there's not much news in this announcement. Essentially the "new" service is a repackaging of its current IT managed services for the data center, which I wrote about earlier, specifically for software deployed in the cloud.

What might be new is that HP will now test your Web application in its data center to determine whether you're about to deploy something with known security flaws.

I say "might" because I was unable to ask a followup question to clarify the information because the HP webcast (called a "true webcast" in the promotional material for the event) required participants to use "a Microsoft browser," according to the error message I got when logging in, first with Safari and next with Firefox from my Mac. I was not able to boot up my Windows laptop in time to get online for the event. But I was able to scramble and get on the voice-only conference call to catch the audio.

If a vendor is going to hold a "true webcast," it should reach beyond Windows users since the Web, by definition, includes we Mac and Linux reprobates, who apparently still aren't getting the memo that Windows is the required portal to the Internet, at least in the minds of big IT vendors.

I've noted here before that Apple's Safari browser gets short-shrift among SaaS providers. Usually Mac users can rely on Firefox as an alternative. But, it seems, HP's technology cannot support even it on the Mac.

This raises questions in my mind about HP's ability to effectively monitor the performance, availability and security of Web-based applications if they are unable to support browsers that Net Applications gave nearly 30% of the combined market share to in February.

So, while there wasn't much in terms of news in the HP Cloud Assure announcement, there was insight. HP thinks state-of-the-art applications in the cloud can be tamed with old-fashioned proprietary thinking.