HP Scores Business Outside U.S.

HP is trying to make up for this summer's dismal forecasts by finding contracts wherever it can -- even offshore.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm announced a total of $1.5 billion in contracts this week, the largest being a marquee $500 million relationship with Nokia .

The two companies extended their original 2001 pact for an additional five years, with Nokia writing $100 million checks each year to HP. The computer and printer maker said it would continue to use its Adaptive Enterprise expertise to manage the IT infrastructure and operations for Nokia's messaging, groupware and network activities. In addition, HP will begin to shift Nokia's IT infrastructure environment to a service-based model.

HP has been working fastidiously to shore up its overseas presence as it battles IBM's Global Services division. The company's entire Services division managed to grow 12 percent over last year, with the biggest gains in HP's Managed Services group. The company's Customer Support and Consulting and Integration also showed positive gains. And even though it is doing well, HP's Services division should get a boost relatively soon as the company closes in on its acquisition of IT services provider Synstar.

HP said it also has new hardware and software customer wins in the public sector, health and education markets in the European and Asia Pacific regions.

The customer wins include:

• a product and services contract with the Central Norway Regional Health Authority;
• new Superdome servers and storage components for China's postal service;
• an agreement to shift the application framework for India's Income Tax department from IBM to HP-UX;
• a $2.3 million intranet project for India's Central Reserve Police Force;
• a contract to build the technology infrastructure for Indonesia's 2004 General Election;
• a multi-year project to create 70 million identity cards for the Italian Ministry of the Interior;
• a $1.5 million Superdome project for Korea's Health Insurance Review Agency;
• a $2 million project to put eight HP Superdome servers in Korea's Ministry of Information & Communication to revamp the core banking system for Korea's Post Office;
• a $1.3 million staff portal for the National Institute of Education in Singapore;
• a pact with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology to implement IT Infrastructure Library;
• a storage contract with Slovenia's National and University Library;
• a $2.5 million IT infrastructure upgrade for the Supreme Court of Korea;
• a $20 million co-project with Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior;
• a $12 million contract to upgrade to Superdome servers, storage, workstations, desktops and printers for the Taiwan Tax Bureau.

The overseas contracts -- especially the Superdome ones -- are a welcome break after HP's business-critical server revenue plummeted a hefty 8 percent to $828 million, with sales in its Alpha and NonStop server lines down 32 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

In a related announcement, HP said it has drafted a pact with the Puerto Rican government to build a research and development center and establish a new branch of HP Labs on the island.

The new facility would primarily focus on the pharmaceutical industry, as Puerto Rico is home to a large number of drug manufacturing companies. HP has been exploring how to tap into the multi-billion dollar industry with anti-counterfeiting and medication-dispensing technologies.

The company said other areas of research in Puerto Rico could include utility computing and advanced micro-mechanical devices.

Besides its Palo Alto headquarters, HP has facilities in Bangalore, India; Bristol, U.K.; Cambridge, Mass.; Haifa, Israel; and Tokyo.