Scenes From HP's 'Connecting Your World' In Berlin

Waiting For The Show To Begin

Members of the media await the start of HP's "Connecting Your World" conference, held this year in Berlin. The conference was held in the Hermann Henselmann-designed Berliner Congress Centre in Alexanderplatz near the city's center. This This week HP unveiled a plethora of new products and launched 17 notebook computers, including the EliteBook notebook and two new computers from its Voodoo brand. Several HP executives made note of the link between HP's design process and the Bauhaus-inspired conference center, which strives to achieve an aesthetically pleasing balance between form and function.

And The Band Played On

HP's senior vice president of the Personal Systems Group (PSG) for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA) Eric Cador takes the stage amidst musicians serenading the crowd before the opening keynote and product launches. He briefly accepted a tambourine, giving it a few shakes before moving on to the welcome speech, calling this event HP's largest and most ambitious product launch in several years.

Talking Technology

"Germany's alarm clock," TV morning news reporter Cherno Jobatey, interviews Todd Bradley, HP's executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group (PSG). The enthusiastic Jobatey, who wore a dark business suit and black Converse high-tops, asked Bradley how HP works to create innovative products. "It's really a team effort, a mix of ideas and technology," said Bradley.

Field Hockey And Brand Strategy

Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president of global marketing for HP's PSG, shares a laugh with Jobatey as they discuss the ways Berlin and HP are the same. "I think you and Berlin have a lot in common," Jobatey said. "Always moving, always changing." Chahil also shared a personal anecdote: His father was in Berlin more than 70 years ago as an athlete, helping the Indian Olympic team take home the gold medal for field hockey.

Voodoo Child

Rahul Sood is the chief technology officer of the Voodoo Business Unit, and the founder of VoodooPC, acquired by HP in 2006. Here Sood shows off the insides of the Voodoo Omen, a high-performance PC with a starting price of around $7,000. The high-tech machine employs a liquid cooled quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme processor and is currently only available for a selected group of current Voodoo owners. "This is the best day of my life," said Sood.

You've Got The Touch

Richard Walker, vice president and general manager of HP's consumer PC global business unit, shows Jobatey how the touchscreen on the HP TouchSmart allows users to scroll through albums and make playlists. "You look like the kind of guy who likes hip-hop," Walker said. "Do you?" Jobatey turned to the audience, shrugging before smiling and admitting that yes, he likes to "get down."

With Youth Behind Him

David Roman, vice president of worldwide marketing communications for PSG, stands before a frozen crowd of screaming concert-goers and talks about the importance of the youth market, which he terms "the Net Generation." "Whenever we get it right with the Net Generation, we get it right across the board," he explained, referring to the type of innovation HP works toward. Roman announced MTV and HP are collaborating on a TV show called "Engine Room", which pits young creative minds from around the planet against each other in a battle of digital art skills that will include graphic design, animation, sound mixing and filmmaking.

Inside The Omen

HP's high-tech, high-performance Voodoo Omen wowed the crowd with its elite interior components, such as copper liquid cooling pipes with quick-release hose connectors. The cooling system keeps the system running quietly even at high levels of performance, and battery powered interior lighting allows upgrade installation while the computer is unplugged. The desktop is aimed at individuals who demand the highest-quality performance from their computers.

The Environment Inside

HP prides itself on being an ecologically conscious company. In January, HP announced that by 2010, it will reduce the energy consumption of its volume desktop and notebook lines by 25 percent. A display in the main showroom floor, shown here, offered conference attendees the chance to learn about HP's environmental initiatives, like reducing the amount of materials their products use and how to design components that can be easily recycled or upgraded.

An Open And Shut Case

During the conference HP shed light on how rigorously it tests every product it manufactures, including hinge tests like the one shown here. Carol Hess-Nickels, director of marketing for worldwide business notebooks, said the company uses the military's test standard MIL-STD 810F as a way to gage the durability of HP's line of business-class notebooks. Tests include resistance to vibration, dust, humidity, and altitude, as well as drops and bumps. "Can your road warrior work bumping up and down in the back of a truck for 10 miles?" she asked. "Ours can."

Tapping Away For Seven Years

One of the durability tests HP performs on all books is a stress test on the keyboard, which undergoes the equivalent of seven years worth of keystrokes. In total, Hess-Nickels said HP business notebooks undergo more than 95,000 hours of testing, comprised of 50,000 individual steps. Integration and software testing add another 20,000 man-hours of time, including 7,000 docking tests and 240 hardware and software products per operating system.

Advertecture In Berlin

In advance of the conference HP plastered billboard advertisements, some several stories high, throughout the city center. Here in Bebelplatz, an ad for HP's Pavilion Slimline PC covers the front of St. Hedwig's Cathedral, built by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia in the 18th century and currently undergoing renovation. Similar billboards can be seen at Checkpoint Charlie, Alexanderplatz and Unter Den Linden, one of Berlin's central boulevards.

Making An Entrance

Attendees arrive at the Frank Gehry-designed DZ Bank building at Pariser Platz in the city center. The "Gala Dinner" featured a game room, an oxygen bar (well-frequented) and a Marlene Dietrich impersonator, who vainly tried to find technology journalists to dance with. Gehry's swooping glass canopy offered an irresistible backdrop for anyone in possession of a camera.

Almost Too Much To Bear

Berin's famed city symbol, the bear, gets a bit of color, thanks to a graffiti artist and any attendee who wished to tag the plastic beast with a selection of colors. In a city where graffiti culture is part of everyday life, this addition to the party felt as natural as the sounds of Marlene Dietrich, though no one danced with the bear, either.

Overall, Impressive

Conference attendees enjoy a menu of beef, sweet potatoes, and a local favorite, currywurst (usually sausage, this time veal) while admiring Gehry's architecture. On either side of the dining area, caricaturists focused on volunteers' more prominent features, while soccer (that's football here, mind you) fans could catch up on games in a low-lit room with a giant screen.