Launched in May 2014, Hewlett-Packard Helion is a part of the company’s OpenStack offering. A free and open-source cloud platform, OpenStack is derived from a series of similar projects, including processing, storage, and networking applications.

Lisa-Marie M. Namphy and Bill Franklin with HP Cloud spoke with theCUBE’s John Furrier at HP Discover Las Vegas 2014, and discussed their work with HP’s OpenStack.

Patent trolls and indemnification of OpenStack

When asked how HP dealt with so-called patent trolls, or individuals who sue companies that they think are infringing patents that they assert a right to, including both open source and proprietary technologies, Franklin had this to say about HP’s approach to the problem: “We don’t want any of our customers to feel that by choosing to use OpenStack they might be sued at a later date by a patent troll. So, just as we indemnified Linux 15 years ago, we are doing exactly the same thing now.”

By indemnifying OpenStack, HP hopes to protect its users from claims by patent trolls of infringement of any intellectual property through the use of its software.

• OpenStack technology: breaking barriers

Namphy also discussed the new book put out by HP called OpenStack Technology: Breaking the Barriers. The book explains what OpenStack does and how HP figures into that equation. The last few chapters also discuss the newly released HP Helion OpenStack and how it relates to HP.

Building trust

Part of the problem that HP has faced lies in the level of trust customers have in the company. Its sheer size can make those who use its products leery of any offerings from the company. But this lack of trust is changing.

When asked how HP has changed the trust level, Namphy replied, “It’s all about Open. We’ve built our foundation on OpenStack technology; we are going up the stack with cloud foundry. We believe it has to be open — has to be based on open standards.”