HP is rolling out a new line of software and services designed to help companies minimise the downtime caused by change.

The newest additions to the company's business technology optimisation stable will focus on helping enterprises prevent and manage conflicts that arise from upgrades, installations and updates within IT.

Michel Feaster, director of products for HP's business service automation unit, told vnunet.com that managing everyday IT changes has become a major headache for the company's clients.

"Vice presidents and chief information officers cited the pace of change as the number-one issue they have in day-to-day operations," she said.

Feaster explained that conflicts are more likely to arise when multiple departments make changes to their systems at the same time.

"Because there is no visibility everyone is operating in their 'siloed' view of change, and that is where we see collisions," she said.

HP will also roll out a series of incident management tools designed to help companies recover when a conflict does arise.

The new line-up, which is based primarily on code obtained in HP's purchase of Opsware in 2007, will be available as conventional software or hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS).

Traditionally seen as a way for companies to eschew in-house systems, Feaster said that HP's SaaS products also appeal to larger firms as a "bridge" solution while transitioning from an older system to a completely new product.

"Some customers are working in a service model where they do not want to keep the expertise in-house, and then we see some customers use SaaS as a bridge," she said. "At the end of that transition, they will bring [the service] back in-house."