Netli Strengthens HP Ties

Web application delivery specialist Netli has won an expanded contract with IT powerhouse Hewlett-Packard . Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Test equipment maker Tektronix , aerospace giant Boeing and education publisher Scholastic also licensed the company’s NetLightning service.

“We’re getting pretty good traction,” Michael Kharitonov, co-founder and chairman of the Palo Alto, Calif., firm, told internetnews.com.

NetLightning promises quick response times, high availability and security for enterprise Web applications. It uses dispersed data centers, transport protocols and content optimization software to cut distance-related delays by reducing the number of trips between the server and end user.

The service was launched in April and is also compatible with SSL , an important security standard. There is no capital investment. Customers may choose to have equipment place on their premises, but it’s not necessary.

Although the technology is somewhat different than traditional content delivery models, NetLightning competes with offerings from Akamai and Speedera.

Netli’s tighter ties with HP may be the most significant of today’s announcements. HP, also in Palo Alto, was among Netli’s first customers, using its service to improve response times for a developers’ portal.

Now, HP will use NetLightning for ePrime, its e-commerce portal that helps enterprises and companies with large sales volume integrate HP into their ordering chains.

In addition to the possibility of winning more business inside HP, Netli would benefit immensely if HP’s service arm would resell the service. Netli, privately held and venture-backed, only has about 45 employees.

Kharitonov declined comment on pursuing a reseller deal with HP. Akamai has a reseller deal with HP rival IBM .

“We are recruiting as fast as we can, mostly in sales and engineering and support,” Kharitonov said.

In other Netli news, the company said it accelerated its NetLightning SSL service for companies that receive information over secure Web sites. The added security it designed to help companies meet federal requirements in the health care and financial services industries.

Netli has also begun offering its service in China and India, locations where more and more customer service portals are being run from.