HP World News: Dec. 12, 2002

Compaq + HP = Everything Is Positive?

Not quite. IDC convened a press conference yesterday to proclaim that critics who predicted an exodus of unhappy customers in the wake of the HP/Compaq merger were wrong. The analyst firm based its conclusion on a survey of HP customers. Crawford Del Prete, senior vice-president for communications and hardware research at IDC, said in the press conference that the clarity of HP's post-merger product road map and a well-organized sales force helped HP hold on to market share better than expected after the merger. Half of those polled said there was no change in their experience with the company since the merger. Some 35 percent, however, said HP has done a poor job at communicating with them about the company's vision of products and services. HP storage, PC, handheld and server customers are largely happy with the outcome of the merger, according to IDC. But customers want more innovative mobile devices and better financing. The move from Hard Deck to PartnerOne -- and HP's publicly stated desire to compete in some direct markets -- has unsettled some channel partners, observed one IDC analyst. Bloomberg reported today that IDC -- not HP -- paid for the survey, which randomly polled 1,000 customers in Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, UK and the United States six months after the completion of the merger. Read a complete report on the IDC survey in an upcoming issue of HP World Magazine. - Mike Elgan

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HP World 2003 Call for Papers!

Make your voice heard at the premier HP conference. HP World 2003 takes place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta Aug. 11-15. Gain invaluable exposure. Make crucial business connections. Help shape the imminent technological synergies of tomorrow. Submitting your paper or tutorial couldn’t be easier. Just click here and we’ll guide you through the process. The deadline is Jan. 31, 2003.

Updated Linux Portal at Interex Web Site!

We have updated our Linux portal page. Check it out here. And check out our other dedicated portals, which cover HP-UX, HP e3000, HP 1000/RTE, OpenView, Windows, Security, Storage, Mobile, HP OpenVMS and HP NonStop.

New Officers for Interex Board

Barry Breig is the new chairman of Interex's 2003 Board of Directors. He succeeds Bob Combs, whose term ends this month after a year at the helm of Interex. Combs, however, will continue as the non-voting Past Chairman of the board.

Breig was reappointed to the Interex board for a second term recently. Breig is vice-president for information technology at Triplefin, a marketing and distribution company in Cincinnati.

Here are the other new officers for Interex's 2003 Board of Directors: Gaylord Maines (vice-chairman), Vickie Timms (secretary) and David Pellone (treasurer).

Pellone was appointed to the board to replace Combs starting in January 2003. Pellone is vice-president of finance for Flash Electronics, Inc. in Fremont, Calif. The new officers were elected at the board of directors' meeting on Dec. 6-8.

The other members of the board are Denys Beauchemin, Gary Border and Linda Roatch.

HP e3000 Solutions Symposium Series

March 26 - 29, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (East)

April 23 - 26, San Jose, California (West)

The 2003 HP e3000 Solutions Symposium offers a comprehensive 4-day, multi-track program giving you the very best training for planning and implementing an e3000 migration or continuing to run a high performing e3000 environment.

This is the only conference of its kind, covering fundamental topics regarding e3000, such as migration, system management and the new MPE/iX 7.0 and 7.5 features, e3000 system, security and storage fundamentals and new this year, Fast Track HP-UX and Linux Training for MPE professionals.

Click here for more information!

Coming Soon!
HP Listens. Make Sure Your Voice is Heard!

The Worldwide Survey of HP Customers, an independent study by Interex of customer relationship and satisfaction with HP, will be released in February. Make sure you're well informed!

Sign up to receive up-to-the-minute notifications about the survey.
This annual survey is available to all HP customers, and helps them to
develop solid contacts and communicate their computing needs directly to HP. Make sure to participate!

OpenMPE's Membership Drive

OpenMPE, an organization that seeks to be the custodian for the MPE/iX Operating System, has announced a membership drive. It said that it is offering a "zero cost" membership as part of its effort to identify the initial "rank-and-file" of the community that desires to continue using and/or supporting the MPE environment beyond the end of 2006, the year in which Hewlett-Packard will end its support to the operating system. "Membership at the 'zero cost' level does NOT require you to continue as a member when we switch to a 'fee based' structure," OpenMPE says on its Web site. Visit the OpenMPE Web site to register.

December HP World Magazine Online

news

Fiorina Looks to 2003
HP CEO Carly Fiorina talks about the need to cut costs in a time when IT managers are spending less than they budgeted. Fiorina spoke to analysts in October, predicting that growth would be "muted at best."

Welcome Home, NonStop
Tandem's fault-tolerant computer system, the NonStop, is back in the fold after a less-than-ideal fit with Compaq. The NonStop Enterprise Division was "thrilled to be part of the new HP."

Scientists and Supercomputers
Since its merger with Compaq, HP has dominated the life sciences computing market. Scientists in universities, business and government need powerful systems to make and share discoveries. HP is there to help with solutions.

News Nuggets

Editorial

Inside HP
Enticing Offers; Plus: The Bubble and the Lessons Learned, Garage Pays Off Again and More

Mobile Printing Gets Real
At the start of CTIA's Wireless IT 2002 conference in Las Vegas, HP announced a series of new mobile printing solutions that demonstrate major headway toward realizing Cooltown's vision.

Tru Colors
A little more than half a year ago, when HP found itself discussing with Compaq the notion of migrating Tru64 users to HP-UX, it planted the merger seed. HP is going forward with the plan to fold Tru64 into HP-UX, albeit with a very long road map.

Getting So Much Smarter All the Time
The latest HP iPAQ, the 5400, features a built-in biometrics fingerprint-scanner, providing a new level of device security, and an Intel XScale processor that clocks in at 400MHz.

The Best of Both Worlds
HP's enterprise mobility strategy is ready for prime time.

Tablet PC Is Born
On Nov. 7, HP launched the Tablet PC TC1000, a fully compatible Windows XP PC that allows users to write directly on the screen. The Tablet PC was designed with the corporate user in mind, as well as verticals like legal firms, real estate and insurance offices, universities, government agencies and health care professionals.

features

The e3000 Decision
For many e3000 customers, September's HP World Conference was the first opportunity to meet face to face with HP (and with one another) since HP announced it would discontinue the line. It was clear that HP continues to be the platform provider of choice for the vast majority of customers migrating off of the e3000.

HP, Compaq Labs Merged, Too
Melding HP Labs' researchers with their counterparts at Compaq Labs' was no big deal, said Patrick Scaglia, VP and director, Internet and Computing Platform Research Center, HP Labs. "IT research culture has more similarities than differences," Scaglia said.

lab report

SuSE Goes One Up with Wireless Desktop
With Linux coming on strong as a challenge to Windows and many market analysts saying that Linux is ahead by a nose in the race to install new IT servers, HP World Labs assesses SuSE's latest version. While technically just a "point release," SuSE 8.1 provides plenty of improvements for both IT departments and end users.

wheels and deals

products and services

News Feed

Dec. 12, 2002

HP strikes supercomputer deal
HP and Linux NetworX on Wednesday announced they will partner to strengthen each other's Linux-based clustering solutions by delivering lower priced supercomputers. Under the terms of the deal, HP will offer Linux NetworX ClusterWorX as a cluster management tool for supercomputers. For its part, Linux NetworX will sell HP's Itanium 2-based servers running Linux.

HP, NEC for outsourcing alliance targetting major Asian and U.S. markets
HP and NEC Corp. on Thursday announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to form an alliance to jointly provide outsourcing services to enterprise customers. HP and NEC may form joint ventures for the delivery of these outsourcing services. HP and NEC will initially target global customers based in China, Japan and the United States, with plans to expand to other regions. The new alliance builds on the existing relationship between HP and NEC, which includes a strategic collaboration to deliver large-scale, open, mission-critical solutions and services for targeted global industries.

HP and DIRECTV ink services, technology agreement
HP on Thursday announced a five-year agreement with DIRECTV, Inc. to provide the technology platform and ongoing managed services and support for the nation's leading digital satellite television service provider to 11 million customers nationwide. HP will deliver and manage an advanced computing infrastructure to support the operation, growth and performance of DIRECTV's billing environment, allowing it to concentrate on its core business strategies. The managed services contract calls for the deployment of HP AlphaServer GS series servers running Tru64 UNIX, HP StorageWorks storage and third-party billing software by DST Innovis.