HP Cloud Services will begin delivering its first offering, HP Public Infrastructure as a Service, as a public beta from next month, giving enterprises their first chance to try out the company’s new ‘Converged Cloud’ hybrid delivery service.

Built on ‘hardened’ OpenStack technology, the Converged Cloud allows enterprises to ‘incorporate a blend of public, private and managed cloud services with their existing IT to create a seamless hybrid environment that rapidly adapts to their changing requirements’.

Other features of the service will include Cloud Maps, a variety of pre-packaged application templates that helps enterprises set up their cloud services, Service Virtualisation 2.0, which allows users to test the quality and performance of cloud or mobile applications without disrupting their systems, and Virtual Application Networks, which helps address the bottlenecks associated with developing new cloud services for legacy networks.

For clients who would rather leave the management to the experts, HP has Enterprise Cloud Services, with offerings for private clouds, continuity services and unified communications.

The offering has the potential to appease a lot of enterprises keen to take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing but nervous about completely abandoning legacy systems, particularly in mission-critical areas. Indeed, a survey by the company has found that over half of enterprises had departments running cloud solutions that hadn’t been sanctioned by their IT departments.

Does a hybrid approach make you more inclined to move your enterprise to the cloud? Post your comments below.