HP axes middleware products

NEWS HP is set to discontinue a raft of middleware products as it refocuses its post-merger strategy on network management tools. HP's Netaction Application Server, Netaction Web Services Platform and Web Services Registry are all being axed. The company has also stopped developing eSpeak, software used to connect networked devices. The Netaction products were inherited from its $470m acquisition of Bluestone Software in early 2001, but have not proved popular or profitable. HP will now rely on partnerships with BEA and Microsoft to fulfil its customers' middleware needs, and will concentrate on its OpenView network management portfolio, its Opencall communications suite and its Utility Data Center software.