The company said a survey it conducted of chief information officers found that 75 percent "acknowledge the need to invest in more flexible technology" and to "be able to scale it up and down rapidly." The new HP offerings respond to these needs with elasticity of services, cost management at the "right size," and risk mitigation.

Operations Orchestration, Cloud Assure

Thomas E. Hogan, HP executive vice president of software and solutions, said CIOs know about the benefits of cloud computing, "but are challenged with how best to manage the risks." The new services from HP, Hogan said, are part of the company's efforts to address those concerns as well as the needs.

HP said the benefits of cloud computing and pay-as-you-need pricing include access to up-to-date communications services, operating costs that reflect needs, a reduction in the need for capital investment, and lowering the risk of adopting new technology. HP's Operations Orchestration and Cloud Assure programs are intended to help businesses manage cloud services.

Operations Orchestration provides automation to provision services as needed inside an existing infrastructure . The program utilizes the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud to increase capacity on a pay-as-you-go basis.

These automation services, HP said, improve service quality by lowering the need for escalations and repair time because of automated diagnosis and resolution. In addition, efficiency is increased by automating repetitive tasks and coordinating changes across systems.

Cloud Assure offers cost controls for various "compute footprints," with service levels provided at what HP called "the most optimized and predictable cost."

Communications as a Service

A third HP program, Communications as a Service (CaaS), enables service providers to provide small and midsize businesses with cloud-based services priced as if they were utility-based services and provided as outsourcing. The cloud services are self-service interactive voice response, video surveillance, and, in conjunction with partners, unified communications and IP contact centers.

HP said a survey it commissioned indicated the four services will be part of a market of at least $6.2 billion by 2014 as a result of 29 percent annual growth.

CaaS features an aggregation platform, integrated communication services from third-party providers and from HP, and the ability to add other services.

Laura DiDio, an analyst with Information Technology Intelligence Corp., said HP wants to stay competitive with IBM, Oracle and others in the cloud-services market. She noted that, while IT departments recognize the value of either internal or external cloud infrastructures, the idea of external, or public, clouds raises "some understandable concerns" like security , and HP is making clear it wants to address those concerns.