我刚才谈到了推动扩展型企业的系统战略。现在我想谈一谈一些重要的软件产品。惠普OpenView是业界处于领先水平的软件产品，旨在帮助客户管理其扩展型企业，其中包括系统、网络、应用程序、数据库和互联网。就市场份额而言，它是管理分布式环境的头号平台，《VAR商业周刊》及《信息周刊》杂志都将其列为1997 年同类产品中最佳的产品。在过去的一年中，我们加大了投资的力度，以加强惠普OpenView 在三大关键领域的地位。

The first — the acquisition of a company called PROLIN - was aimed at what we're calling service-level management. We want to provide IT administrators with the tools and processes that allow them to contract with their business users for an agreed-upon service level — in terms of things like systems response time and availability. PROLIN's suite of software modules report into HP OpenView to physically monitor whether or not IT has met the service-level agreement they made with their business customers and, if not, where the problem lies. We also consult with customers to help them make the process-level changes required to achieve their desired service levels, including operational assessment, planning, design, implementation and training. HP has long been a leader in managing the thousands of PCs that are distributed on our customers' desktops. More than 100 customers use our software products and services to manage their desktop systems, and many of them subcontract that management to us.

首先是收购PROLIN公司。这一举措旨在提高服务级的管理。我们要为IT管理者提供所需的工具和程序，使他们能与商业用户以合同的形式确认服务水准，例如系统回应时间和可用性。PROLIN的软件模块套件装入惠普OpenView，以监测IT是否符合他们与商业客户达成的协议。如未达到协议规定的条件，则确定问题何在。我们还为客户提供咨询，帮助他们进行程序级所需的变动，以达到他们需要的服务水平，这其中包括操作评估、计划、 设计、执行和培训。长久以来，惠普一直在管理作为客户台式机的数千台PC机方面处于领先的地位。100多家客户在使用我们的软件产品和服务来管理他们的桌面系统。他们当中有许多家甚至将该项管理分包给我们。