Andy Grove Says Combo Isn't Best Move for HP
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BY PETER SVENSSON The Associated Press   NEW YORK -- Andy Grove, management guru and former head of Intel Corp., says he is dismayed by the recent combination of the chairman and CEO positions at Hewlett-Packard Co.  "Every time I see that -- a company that has departed from the ...
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd's assessment of his company's storage sales organization was simple and blunt: "We just don't cover enough accounts," said Hurd on a conference call with analysts Tuesday discussing HP's latest quarterly earnings. Sales of storage products grew only 3 percent during the quarter ended Jan. 31, compared to a year ago, whileÂ HP's overall revenue grewÂ 11 percent, and revenue in the Technology Solutions Group, of which storage is a part, grew 40 percent. "We need to drive stronger top line results in the business," Hurd said. To do that HP will invest in improving sales coverage and hiring more storage sales specialists, he said, as well as better aligning the company with its value added resellers, independent companies that sell HP storage. In other words, HP has to do a better job of reaching out to customers like Gary McCready. McCready is a storage manager in the IT department of a major New York area financial institution, which he did not want identified, and a member of Encompass, an HP user group. Although he frequently receives invitations to HP technical forums or other events surrounding operating systems or servers, he sees very few invitations to HP storage events. "I'm not sure HP is really putting the emphasis on selling storage the same way it puts the emphasis on other areas. I think they figure that storage simply sells itself," McCready said. He also lamented that HP recently merged its StorageWorks convention into the HP Technology Forum, a show devoted to all HP systems. In fact, storage doesn't sell itself, says Rob Enderle, principal analyst with The Enderle Group, a market research firm. The enterprise storage buyer is a very conservative buyer who makes a decision only after careful consideration, which makes for long sales cycles, Enderle said. "If you don't have enough specialists you are not going to get the business." More to the point, a storage specialist needs to know about the specific storage issues facing different industries, said Andrew Reichman, a storage industry analyst at Forrester Research. Storage needs differ for financial institutions versus health care companies, for example, on what regulations companies have to obey, and the types of software they use, Reichman said. "It's hard for storage vendors in general, not just HP," he said, but added that some storage vendors are dealing with the challenge. EMC and Hitachi Data Systems, both solely storage vendors, are organized around sales account managers who are supported by sales specialists who can address specific needs in specific industries, Reichman said. But while Hurd thinks HP's storage sales operation needs attention, it is competitive. HP ranked second to EMC in storage sales worldwide market share in the third quarter of 2006, according to IDC's latest figures. HP's $760 million in revenue gave it a 17.6 percent share, while EMC's $927 million gave it a 21.4 percent share. But HP actually lost market share to EMC that quarter as its sales grew by only 1.8 percent, compared to the year ago quarter, while EMC's grew 18 percent. HP has a chance to improve its sales if it takes some simple advice from customers like McCready: Call me.
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- More than anything else, Intel Chairman Andrew Grove was a pioneer. Free! Sign up here to receive our Internet Daily e-Newsletter!
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The market for over-40 pitchers will likely be enticing for teams looking to add the final piece to the rotation this offseason. After all, there will be no top-of-the-rotation starters available (short of Andy Pettitte leaving the Yankees), unless you consider Carlos Silva or Kyle Lohse of that ilk (and if you do, you probably won't be employed as a ...
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This is getting less and less suspenseful. It's not that Westwood's opponents aren't worthy adversaries -- it's just that high school football squads aren't supposed to have a passing game this sophisticated.
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HP was blasted by legislators this week, but corporate customers say the boardroom leak scandal is a minor distraction, and they still back CEO Mark Hurd.
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HAVEN, Wis. -- For 18 holes, Stuart Appleby played flawless golf in yesterday's third round, four birdies and 14 pars. It wasn't until he was done playing that he discovered that it wasn't as good a day as he had thought, that he had made a quadruple bogey.
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Retrofitting SP2 to Windows 98 or Windows NT simply would not make much sense, argues Yankee Group&#39;s Laura DiDio. Both operating systems are eight years old, and the PC and Internet worlds were much different places then.
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Tonight will be a busy one on the local fight scene with two cards. At the Bayside Expo Center, Ray Oliveira will take on Hicklet Lau for the vacant International Boxing Union welterweight title. On the same card, heavyweight prospect Matt Godfrey (4-0, 2 KOs) of Providence will face Andrew Hutchinson.
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&quot;The biggest danger to HP and IBM is a price war,&quot; said John Enck of Gartner. &quot;Blades are still premium-priced products from IBM and HP.
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TechWeb - HP may not be able to count on overseas sales to insulate it from a U.S. slowdown, according to analysts.
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FLORIDA 20, KENTUCKY 3: While the defense shines, Ciatrick Fason leads an adept but at times sloppy offense. By ANTONYA ENGLISH, Times Staff Writer.
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That was the question during the first round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club on Thursday afternoon. The answer is: Not at the top of the leaderboard.
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It's been a busy Monday for Hewlett-Packard as the company announced not one, but two proposed purchases. Somewhat overshadowed by theÂ $1.6 billion HP is forking overÂ toÂ acquire datacenter automation specialist Opsware,Â is the $241 million the vendor is offering for Neoware.
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PROVIDENCE -- Clifton Dawson looked stunned after Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie threw him for a loss on the second play of the fourth quarter, hitting the Harvard running back so hard his helmet flew off. Dawson's bewilderment could have been because of the ferocity of DeOssie's hit. It also may have been from the surprise of being brought down so ...
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Topps isn't ready to go out at the bottom.
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C'mon, T.O., take the bait. Admit you're better than Randy Moss. Say you can run faster, block better, make the most big plays out of double coverage.