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LAS VEGAS—In her keynote speech here Monday, Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina delivered a combination of an extended infomercial for her company and a pep talk for a wounded industry.
“Now is not the easiest time for the IT industry,” she told an audience of Fall Comdex attendees. “But we believe challenges lead to solutions. We have confidence that we can invent the future.
“Even though we come back to Las Vegas this year with more on our minds than past years,” she said. “I come to this conference more hopeful about our future than I have ever been.”
On that note, Fiorina proceeded to launch HPs new “Anthem” ad campaign. The campaign lists examples of companies whose operations improved with the implementation of HP systems, and Fiorina did the same:
A research lab in Pittsburgh is using a Terascale Computing System from HP to simulate molecular activity with six trillion computations per second.
The Formula One IT team uses CAD software on HP systems to design new engines for race cars.
Coors Brewing Co., of Golden, Colo., with the help of HP has created a portal that lets bar owners download various templates for beer promotions.
The animation team at Dreamworks used HP systems to create the movie “Shrek” as well as “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” which is the first all-Linux animated feature film ever.
Disney next year at the Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla., will open a new attraction that lets attendees climb into a capsule that launches them into a simulated space adventure. Called Mission Space, it runs on HP computers.
And across the globe in India, street photographers are using an HP solar-powered camera and printer to create government-mandated photo IDs and print them out on the fly.
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“Were there in the cereal you pour, the coffee you drink, the jeans you wear, the car you drive,” Fiorina said.
She went on to say that HP is aiming to provide “adaptive infrastructures” to its customers, claiming that HP is more solution-focused, partner-oriented and selfless than its competitors.
“While IBM is placing 10 billion dollar bets on the final chapter of e –business,” she said, “at HP we dont see it that way. At every step of the way we are focused on the value process of information technology…We are genuinely open, not a company masquerading as open to get you to buy into our proprietary platforms.
“Your entire infrastructure must be adaptive,” she said. “We do not wish to control you or lock you in or limit your choices. We believe partnership is our lifeblood.”
Fiorina then gave a quick nod to HPs new portable computers—the company launched a Tablet PC earlier this month and two iPaq handhelds here at the show.
“I think this is the ultimate stocking stuff, dont you?” she said, holding up a $699 iPaq.
Fiorina made a brief mention of the companys merger this year with Compaq Computer Corp., saying that it was going smoothly. She made no mention of Michael Capellas, former CEO at Compaq, who last week left his post at HP to take the helm at WorldCom Inc.
She ended her speech with a final plea for prospective customers to focus on something other than a dismal economy and shaky foreign relations.
“If we can get beyond the doom and gloom headlines that we have grown accustomed to in the past few years, we see a world where technology is more ubiquitous and is driving more change than it ever has before, ” she said. “Progress is not made by the cynics or the doubters. Progress is made by those who believe everything is possible.”