Mergers On Tap: HP Bids For EDSWell, this is big news: "Hewlett-Packard late Monday confirmed reports that it is in talks to acquire systems integrator giant EDS in a bid to boost its fortunes in the global services arena. At 'The Pervasive Datacenter', Gordon Haff compares the move to HP's unsuccessful bid for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in 2000, and sees "the ghost of Carly": "Something that's really striking is just how closely HP has maintained the course that [former CEO Carly Fiorina] laid out... While at Nicholas Carr's blog, the author sees parallels with Oracle's software acquisitions: "Oracle has enjoyed considerable success by rolling up the software side of the the now-mature client-server model of corporate computing. With its $13.9 billion acquisition of outsourcing giant EDS, Hewlett-Packard is playing the same game on the services side." Carr also points to analyst Om Malik's blog, which claims the deal is "About The Clouds, Baby!": "Typically, such a major deal means two things: Either the buyer has some issues with his current business, or he wants to make a big bet on the future. In case of HP CEO Mark Hurd, it might be a bit of both. There is only so much market share HP can carve out when it comes to printers and computers. More importantly, HP seems to be realizing that the future is about on-demand infrastructure. EDS brings to the table about 100 data centers around the planet." Not to rain on the parade, but at All Things Digital, John Paczkowski forsees integration and cultural issues: "When the dust has settled around the merger, HP will be the second-largest provider of consulting and outsourcing services, behind IBM. But it will take some doing to get there. 'It’s a very significant combination,' said Ben Pring, a research vice president in the IT Practices Group at Gartner. '[But] people who are skeptical of big integrations will have a field day around this. It’s putting together two large businesses with two different heritages. It’s going to be a big culture clash.'" More to come... Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:48 AM, May 13, 2008 This is a public forum. United Business Media and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not control what is posted herein. United Business Media makes no warranties or guarantees concerning any advice dispensed by its staff members or readers. Community standards in this comment area do not permit hate language, excessive profanity, or other patently offensive language. Please be aware that all information posted to this comment area becomes the property of United Business Media LLC and may be edited and republished in print or electronic format as outlined in United Business Media's Terms of Service. Important Note: This comment area is NOT intended for commercial messages or solicitations of business. |
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