NICE, France, May 18, 2010 – HP today announced that Erwan Menard, vice president and general manager of the company’s Communications and Media Solutions business unit, has been named to the board of directors of TM Forum, a leading communications industry association.

“HP has been a strong presence in the industry -- and an active voice within the TM Forum,” said Keith Willetts, chairman, TM Forum. “Erwan has a unique perspective on the trends that are re-shaping our industry. He will be a very valuable addition to the board.”

Menard will join the board officially on May 1.  HP has been represented on the TM Forum board for more than a decade.

“TM Forum has long played a leadership role, and I think its guidance will be even more important as our industry moves through a historic period of transformation and innovation,” said Menard. “It’s an honor for me to join the TM Forum board.”

Communications service providers (CSPs) are adapting to a new market in which customers have unlimited choice.  To meet the demand for new services, personalized customer care and attractive prices, CSPs are transforming every aspect of their business, including networks, service delivery, OSS, BSS, and even internal organization.

“With its dual capability in both IT and telecom, HP is uniquely positioned to help CSPs navigate the complexities of transformation,” said Menard.  “Industry standards represent a cornerstone of transformation, and HP will continue to emphasize their importance as it supports both TM Forum and CSPs.”

HP has long supported TM Forum standards for interfaces such as eTOM, SID, OSS/J, MTNM/MTOSI, among others.  They form the foundation for many solutions in the HP Next Generation OSS portfolio (HP NGOSS).  With these standard interfaces, data models, and process definitions, CSPs can reduce costs and risks, as well as improving project re-usability.

“Service providers can compete more effectively by leveraging cross-business assets such as subscriber data management, policy-based solutions, and cloud-based technologies,” said Philippe Leon, director of Next Generation OSS for Communications and Media Solutions at HP.  “HP will work closely with TM Forum to evolve standards that can help service providers take advantage of these key assets.” 

Leon is expected to be named to the TM Forum Executive Committee, which meets regularly to manage implementation of the board’s strategies.

More information about HP CMS and HP NGOSS is available at www.hp.com/go/cms and www.hp.com/go/NGOSS.

About TM Forum

With more than 700 corporate members in 195 countries, TM Forum is the world’s leading industry association focused on enabling best-in-class IT for service providers in the communications, media and cloud service markets. The Forum provides business-critical industry standards and expertise to enable the creation, delivery and monetization of digital services. 

TM Forum brings together the world’s largest communications, technology and media companies, providing an innovative, industry-leading approach to collaborative R&D, along with wide range of support services including benchmarking, training and certification. The Forum produces the renowned international Management World conference series, as well as thought-leading industry research and publications.

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