Hurd Fleshes Out HP's Pros, Cons

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HP is pinning its technology hopes on distributed computing, mobile computing and digital imaging as it moves toward the future.

During a meeting with securities analysts in New York, HP CEO Mark Hurd outlined the companies strengths and weaknesses and pledged to align cost objectives with capabilities as part of the move to get the beleaguered company back to its glory days.

To help do this, the CEO said HP will focus on advancing its adaptive enterprise strategy as a move away from monolithic mainframes.

In the enterprise, Hurd predicted the cost of computing will decline in favor of customers as the industry shifts to standards. HP plans to be right there to serve customers with its technology, allowing customers to “dial up or dial down raw capacity” in a utility computing environment, he said.

Hurd said customers are demanding technology that won’t require people to run it, or monitor it on a constant basis. Instead, the computing resources will be self-managing and provisioned and remotely controlled by the computer systems themselves.

“I think we’re very well positioned to capitalize on this,” Hurd said during his opening comments.

Hurd also said HP foresees an explosion in mobile computing, where consumers and corporate employees will use advanced handheld computing devices that let them switch from e-mail to voice mail and vice versa. HP plans to serve customers during this transitive time of convergence.

The last frontier that HP wants to have a controlling interest in is the burgeoning multi-function printer market. Though already a leader in the market for selling printers to consumers, Hurd said HP sees myriad opportunities to sell hybrid printers — featuring printer, fax and scanner utilities — to enterprises.

Hurd, who has scrutinized HP from top to bottom since taking over for ousted CEO Carly Fiorina last spring, also discussed the state of the company and where it wants to be in the future.

The skipper said that the company is undervalued despite having a load of talent and a deep technological well from which to dip.

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