Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday reported solid third-quarter revenue of $28 billion, up $2.7 billion, or 10%, over the same quarter of the year before.

Third-quarter profit was up 20% to $2.5 billion, as calculated by generally accepted accounting principles. Earnings per share were 80 cents, compared with 66 cents the year before.

"By accelerating our enterprise growth and executing well across the portfolio, HP delivered a strong third quarter performance," chairman and CEO Mark Hurd said in a statement announcing the results.

Revenue in the Americas was one of the slowest growing components of HP's quarter, rising by 4% to $11.6 billion. Revenue grew 16% in Europe, the Middle , and Africa to $11.2 billion. It grew 14% in Asia-Pacific to $5.2 billion. When adjusted for the effects of currency exchange, revenue grew 3% in the Americas; 5% in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and 8% in Asia Pacific.

Revenue derived from the fast-growing BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- grew 24% over the same quarter the previous year and now accounts for 10% of HP's total.

Revenue from overseas now makes up 68% of HP's total.

Hot product areas for HP include blade servers, up 66%, and storage, up 16%. Revenue for the enterprise servers and storage unit was up 5% to $4.7 billion. InformationWeek has published its own in-depth analysis of the blade server marketplace, which can serve as a guideline for justifying investments in blade servers. Download the report here (registration required).

In HP's PC unit, revenue grew 15% in the third quarter to $10.3 billion, with unit shipments up 20%. Notebook revenue grew the fastest at 26%; desktop revenue increased 6%. Consumer revenue grew faster, with an increase of 17%, than commercial customer revenue, which grew 15%.

Printer sales were soft. Unit shipments declined 2% year over year, with consumer printers flat and commercial printers down 9%. Supplies for printers, however, grew 11%. The imaging and printing group accounts for $7 billion of HP's revenue.

HP's expanding software unit increased revenue by 29% to $781 million, led by growth in software infrastructure management products, which rose 32%. The operating profit on the unit was $122 million, compared with $51 million in the third quarter a year ago.

Services revenue grew 14% to $4.8 billion.