Even before the current Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker took charge, HP has been making strides in the software and cloud space. Now, the electronics giant is beginning to accelerate its pace in this segment, and one can observe the major moves, opportunities and acquisitions that led to this point, and beyond.  There are three primary areas HP’s focused on for its shift into hardware, making key acquisitions, bringing in new management, and pushing through significant updates.  These combined efforts are driving HP into various cloud markets, spanning storage, mobile, networking and business intelligence.

Back in 2008, HP acquired EDS for $13.9 billion – what is now HP Enterprise Services. This positioned HP as a direct competitor of IBM, with the former doing a fairly good job at maintaining its status. So much so in fact, it just rolled out its Strategic IT Advisory Services suite designed for its top-paying customers. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean HP is competitive in only one segment – it has been building a presence in just about every market within the cloud industry.

One of these markets is storage, and HP’s foothold in this segment can be attributed largely to the acquisition of 3PAR late last year. The high-profile deal was quite a bidding war between HP and its nemesis Dell, which was eventually won victorious by HP with a bid of $2.35 billion.

More recently, the company has been making strides to monetize this investment as much as possible – for instance, it recently struck a deal with New York-based, full-service securities firm Samuel A. Ramirez & Co.  The firm reportedly manages more than $2 billion in customer assets, and has chosen to replace its existing storage infrastructure with HP 3PAR products.  Its integration is an ongoing process for HP, and we had a chance to hear from Dave Donatelli, HP’s executive vice president, on the ways in which 3PAR fits into HP’s strategy (see full video interview here).  Donatelli’s an important figure for HP’s transition, with his vision leading the company’s storage efforts.

For HP, this transition will also require a great deal of unification across its company.  “Building on a common platform, based on blades designed by the server group, changes the focus of storage at HP from hardware to software innovation,” Burt Latamore writes in an earlier review. “One recent product of this refocus is HP’s StoreOnce system end-to-end data solution. The product is the result of a partnership between the storage organization and HP Labs.”

The important thing about StoreOnce, Dave Vellante, a Wikibon analyst said, is that it works across a converged architecture. “The problem with many products on the market is that they are stovepiped. You have one technology here and another there and another over there. So when you start moving data around the network you have to rehydrate it, and that causes clogs in the network. HP’s vision is really to put the IT anywhere.”

When it comes to big acquisitions pushing Hewlett-Packard further into the cloud, Palm is one of the first on the list. The $1.2 billion acquisition of the mobile manufacturer and OS maker instantly expanded HP’s presence in the mobile space, and the company has already managed to introduce a number of new devices including the 9.7-inch TouchPad, now featuring its own mobile OS.  The two-pronged approach for combined-product hardware and software distribution is one that’s worked for Apple and Google to a large extent, though late-comers like RIM have struggled to keep pace with similar tactics.  HP will face similar obstacles in the mobile space, as Apple’s iOS and Android have all but dominated the mobile OS scene, and are infiltrating the enterprise markets with specialized platform and app features.

With big data trends on the rise, cloud computing mainstays are seeking the best points of integration for their own businesses.  For HP, that means an uphill battle, as it transitions into an emerging market where Oracle, Cisco and IBM still reign supreme.  In penetrating the enterprise market, HP will need to expand its services around cloud management, in tandem with its core cloud services.  The Vertica acquisition has played a big role in HP’s development in business intelligence, with consulting capabilities as an important aspect of this unit’s success.  HP’s goals around client acquisition reach into the high end stratosphere, with a strong start for 2011 with a new advisory strategy.  The company even recruited additional talent to build out this initiative, indicating HP’s seriousness in closing its services loop.

As far as networking goes, HP’s made some early moves to establish its product line around this sector as well.  In late 2009 HP took a jab at Cisco, taking in 3COM for $2.7 billion.  It was part of a larger consolidation strategy that left HP stronger on the back-end, escalating HP’s formidableness in this arena.

We’ve been keeping a close eye on HP’s ongoing developments during this significant shift, talking to some of their own executives along the way.   Here’s a discussion with Craig Nunes, VP of Storage Marketing.  And Dave Scott, SVP & GM of HP’s StrorageWorks Division, sat down with us at the CUBE not too long ago. It’s HP’s combination of new leaders and veteran executives that’s driving much of HP’s innovation these days, marking 2011 as a year of focus, escaping the woes of a high-profile scandal that drove former CEO Mark Hurd into the arms of another competitor.  With Apotheker at the helm, HP’s got a sure focus on software, pulling from his years of experience at SAP.  Donatelli is hard at work keeping HP competitive in a tough market, out to get Cisco and the rest.