HP debuts pay per use pricing on Superdome

HP yesterday introduced a new utility pricing model to its top-of-the-range Superdome severs, based on automatically measuring how much computing power customers use every month.

The company has refined existing capacity on demand pricing models, which are based on the number of Superdome processors a company uses, to create bills based on the percentage of each CPU's processing capacity an organisation taps into.

The new pricing structure is underpinned by automated metering technology measuring the percentage utilisation of each central processing unit (CPU) on HP Superdome servers. CPU utilisation data is automatically collected, encrypted and securely transmitted to HP's billing engine.

With this usage-based pricing, HP's customers will be charged for actual usage on a monthly basis, creating a direct link between IT costs and business demand. Businesses with seasonal activity or unexpected new business opportunities will have capacity available but will only pay for the IT power they need, when they need it.

Increased flexibility

HP says this option offers significant advantages to customers during slow periods, as they will not pay for processing they do not utilise. In addition, users can readily tap into extra capacity during periods of increased demand.

Delivered through HP Financial Services, pay per use is a part of HP's suite of On Demand packages, which provides customers with reserve capacity, instant availability and payments based on actual metered usage.

HP's pay-per-use offering is currently available in North America and Europe, Middle East, and Africa. It is expected to launch in Asia Pacific shortly. ®

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