“What happens when product design goes way beyond the box?” 

## Superdome 

The hp Superdome product team knew they had built something special in their new top- of-the-line UNIX server. But in addition to record-beating performance capabilities, the other breakthroughs they delivered went far beyond the box. By harnessing the collective know-how of far-flung, interdisciplinary hp teams, they learned they could make the whole experience of planning, purchasing, integrating and maintaining high-end server systems painless—and therefore priceless—for customers. 

The team held monthly Superdome council meetings, inviting representatives from R&D and marketing, manufacturing and sales, and financing and support to cover everything from bug fixes to how to maneuver the refrigerator-size server onto loading docks. In those meetings, the team realized through their conversations, and by listening to customers, that they had the opportunity to deliver something truly groundbreaking: an unprecedented customer experience. Together, they conceived of a dedicated solutions manager and sup- port team for each and every customer. They introduced a utility pricing model and sys- tem pre-integration for faster time-to-revenue (for example, hp OpenView management software, hp SureStore XP512 disk arrays, and other leading hp and partner capabilities can all be pre-integrated into Superdome). In the end, the success of hp Superdome is a tribute to the inventiveness of the team as a whole—but also to every individual who con- tributed in his or her own way to bring it to market. 

