HP is preparing to launch public-cloud services, entering an already busy marketplace dominated by Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others.

The main differentiator for HP’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service portfolio is a single architecture that enables customers to build and seamlessly manage hybrid environments: combinations of public-cloud and in-house data center environments.

Frances Guida, manager for cloud solutions and infrastructure at HP, said a major part of the company’s cloud strategy was ensuring that customers could easily move applications across hybrid environments.

“They need to be able to move [workloads] across environments in a seamless fashion,” she said. This can be achieved with hybrid environments built on HP’s new Converged Cloud architecture.

With its cloud services, HP is targeting enterprises and mid-size businesses.

Data center infrastructure supporting the initial beta rollout of HP’s public cloud, called HP Cloud Services, will all be located in the US, Guida said. “We do plan expansion outside of the US in 2013,” she added.

In addition to the upcoming public-cloud launch, HP announced the release of Cloud Maps, an integrated solution for cloud building. Cloud Maps are prepackaged templates that create a catalogue of deployment-ready application services.

HP also rolled out solutions for testing applications deployed in the cloud and for managing virtual networks. HP Service Virtualization 2.0 gives customers a way to test quality and performance of cloud or mobile applications.

Virtual Application Networks speeds application deployment and automates management of network service levels, delivering applications across HP’s FlexNetwork architecture.