HP Scores Business Outside U.S.
HP 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:
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.
is trying to make up for this summer's dismal forecasts by finding contracts wherever it can -- even offshore.
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