HP to phase out Neoview data warehousing product: Sources

Hewlett-Packard Co has decided to stop selling its Neoview data warehousing platform, after it failed to attract enough customers, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Neoview -- launched in 2007 under former HP Chief Executive Mark Hurd -- will no longer be offered to new customers, but HP will continue to support the product through 2014, the sources said.

A company spokeswoman on Monday confirmed in a statement that "HP has decided to stop actively selling Neoview to new customers."

According to one source, Neoview failed to sell well and achieve scale in part because of its one-size-fits all approach to an increasingly fragmented market.

The number of Neoview customers numbered in the dozens, when expectations for the product were that it should have hundreds or even more, this source said. It was primarily targeted at the world's largest enterprise customers.

Data warehousing computer systems are used by companies to analyze data about business trends such as product sales, or production and operational effectiveness. HP sold Neoview as a package of hardware, software and services.

The source said the decision to phase out Neoview was under consideration for a few months, but was finalized only very recently.

HP, the world's largest technology company by revenue, competes with rivals such as IBM, Oracle and Teradata in the data warehousing market.

HP and Microsoft last week announced a number of new data warehousing appliances, prompting some speculation that Neoview was on its way out.

"HP will continue to work with best-in-class partners and will develop innovative approaches that address the next-generation requirements of the market," HP said in its statement.

A year ago, HP and Microsoft announced a three-year, USD 250 million deal to partner on hardware and software integration for businesses.

Shares of Palo Alto, California-based HP were down 2 cents to USD 47.20 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.