Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • PC Hardware

    Fiorina: Rivals Moves Justify Compaq Deal

    By
    eWEEK EDITORS
    -
    September 25, 2002
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      LOS ANGELES—Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman Carly Fiorina said recent strategic moves by rival computer makers provides validation for her controversial decision to buy Compaq Computer Corp. for about $19 billion in a deal completed in May.

      “Today we are in a much better position to serve you than we were a year ago,” Fiorina said in her keynote address to about 5,000 attendees of HP World packed into an auditorium at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday.

      “We think that other competitors are now reacting to us and starting to make their own strategic choices,” she said.

      For example, Fiorina noted that Sun Microsystems Inc. is “going so far as to offer Linux on a PC,” a dramatic shift from its historic sole focus on supporting only its proprietary Solaris operating system.

      Dell Computer Corp., according to the chief executive, recently made the “decision to upend its business model in search of new growth opportunities in printers, services and white box PCs.”

      Dell on Tuesday announced it had signed a deal with Lexmark International Inc. to develop and market its own line-branded printers starting next year. In response to Dells plans to enter HPs most profitable business market, HP in July canceled a reseller agreement through which Dell acquired and sold HP printers and supplies, as well as handheld devices.

      Fiorina saved her harshest comments for IBM, the giant computer maker often cited as the model company for HPs expansion beyond hardware to a greater focus on services. The chief executive contended that rather than expanding and embracing new technology, IBM was reverting to its old ways of promoting its own technology and reducing choices for its customers.

      “IBM is reverting to completely vertical integrated strategy of the 80s, so you cant have it your way, but you can have it IBMs way,” Firoina said, spurring laughter from the crowded hall.

      Page Two

      : Fiorina: Rivals Moves Justify Compaq Deal”>

      Overall, Fiorina sought to assure HP customers and resellers gathered at the companys annual conference that the buyout of Compaq had strengthened, not weakened, the giant computer maker by extending its capabilities and giving it market leadership in several areas.

      Highlighting the companys broad reach, she noted that HP hardware powers 14 of the worlds largest stock exchanges, helps process two-out-of-three credit card transactions worldwide and is used to manage about 65 percent of the worlds energy infrastructure.

      Speaking amid the high-tech industrys worst downturn in its history, Fiorina also argued that companies must continue to buy and upgrade their IT infrastructures, contending that most companies existing IT infrastructures are already outdated.

      “Information technology is the ultimate team sport. The challenge is that many of you are trying to play the game with a quarterback and a system that last saw success five years ago,” she said.

      A few years ago, Fiorina said, IT managers sought to integrate their data into the most stable platforms possible, but such architectures cant keep up with todays changing business demands. Citing an unspecified survey of technology managers, she said that the business environment is changing seven times as fast as the underlying IT technology—a problem she said system managers must address.

      “You are no longer rewarded for stability, you are rewarded for agility,” Fiorina said, comparing the challenges facing todays system manager to those of a football coach.

      “You are no longer simply defending your own goal line, you are now charged with making up plays and moving the ball down field against a shifting, blitzing, lightning-fast opponent with only two minutes left to play,” she said.

      More specifically, system managers now have to worry about more than simply deploying hardware, she said, they must also consider how to manage systems, distribute information, network, and adjust to changing workloads on the go.

      In order to address such a broad array of issues, she said, companies are increasingly going to be looking toward computer makers that can offer a broad range of hardware, software and services—precisely the reasons HP merged with Compaq.

      “We saw the opportunity to combine these two companies to create one great technology company,” she said. “We will stake our claim on being the company that offers the best return on IT.”

      Related Stories:

      • New HP Workstation Is One for the Road
      • HP Touts Speed of New Color Printers
      • Microsoft and HP Unveil the Media Center PC
      Avatar
      eWEEK EDITORS

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×