Hewlett-Packard is attempting to get over its PC stage under new chief executive Leo Apotheker, in light of the declining market demand and the continuously growing, higher margin enterprise space. That’s the market HP has set its eyes on, and software is set to play just as a big of a role as hardware in the company’s strategy.

After spending a few billion on acquiring security firms ArcSight and Fortify Software, the tech giant today unveiled the first fruits of its labor.  The first new addition to its still comparatively modest security portfolio is ArcSight Express 3.0, a combo of hardware and software that searches and analyzes network activity for cyber attacks.

There a couple of other new products that follow v3 of the suite, as Bloomberg reported:

“It also introduced a new Fortify Software Security Center product, which can test application for vulnerabilities to attack, and Tipping Point Web Application Digital Vaccine software that identifies malicious network traffic.”

Investors aren’t confident about HP’s direction, considering that the company announced that it will pull the plug on webOS and may consider spinning off the Personal Systems Group, worth $41 billion, during its latest earnings call.  This means that the timing of the company’s R&D ramp up around software and cloud is not much of a surprise, although security in particular has been a big emphasis much earlier.

Back in December, our News Editor Kristen Nicole interviewed Chris Whitener, Chief Strategist for HP, after the launch of Application Lifecycle Management v11. He elaborated on some of the trends he’s been seeing among his customers, and gave eight security tips for enterprises working in the cloud today. Cybersecurity is an ever-important element of IT these days, and innovating here is now essential for solution provides that want to keep up with the rest of the market.