Hewlett-Packard - Research Paper Example

Hewlett Packard Leo Apotheker, former CEO of the world’s largest business applications software, popularly called SAP, was appointed the CEO and president of HP in the year 2010. In his first public address after assuming the new position, Apotheker announced that HP’s future focus would primarily be on online services with emphasis on ‘cloud computing’, an innovative platform developed by HP where individuals and business personnel could communicate freely with each other without the necessity of expensive hardware (Worthen & Sherr, 2011).

Programs and information, which until now had been stored on servers and personal computers with gigantic disks, would now be freely available online for the consumers within the ‘cloud’ infrastructure, obliterating the necessity of expensive gadgets and proprietary software. The company intends to follow an evolutionary trend for growth under the guidance of Apotheker, primarily focusing on the digital entertainment technology, portability and the expected increase in mobile computing. The new CEO has stressed upon the increasing awareness within the company about sustainability of operations and compliance of its products with the current stress on keeping the earth green and pollution free.

The company intends and has already taken steps to develop product lines in coherence with these objectives. Apotheker intends to stabilize and retain the reputation of HP as the world’s largest technology company after the recent setbacks when the Directors’ had to sack the previous CEO Mark Hurd on disciplinary grounds and a downward slump in HP’s performance in the First Quarter of the year 2011 (Worthen & Sherr, 2011). Apotheker intends to promote ‘cloud computing’ from its own resources as well as in collaboration with other major players’ in the field.

The latest innovative effort has been the development of a totally new operating system named ‘WebOS’, which in addition to sharing an open platform can run both computers as well as handheld products. The main advantage of WebOS is that user's can rent a web server which is capable of dynamically replicating itself geographically in tune with client access patterns (Web, duke.edu). Wide area applications such as global namespace, remote process execution, authentication, resource discovery and management will be possible with this operating system.

HP claims that it’s WebOS Touchpad will offer a unique experience to consumers fed up with Apple I pad and its numerous clones (McLaughlin, 2011). Apotheker intends to lure software developers to come up with applications that will make the operating system unique and perform cross platform tasks on numerous gadgets being developed by HP (Bertolucci, 2011). Apotheker intends to strengthen and encourage innovation within the organizational culture at HP further so that the company continued to maintain its global edge over competitors.

Under the new CEO’s guidance, the organization intends to offer both hardware and software products for individual and enterprise consumers’ built upon an open platform. The company, under the guidance of Apotheker has initiated plans for developing an ‘online application store’ which will obviate the necessity of loading heavy and memory consuming software on personal computers and handheld devices. New systems are being developed in collaboration with Vertica Systems Inc. which will be capable of handling and analyzing large amounts of data rapidly which till date remains unstructured jeopardizing the functioning of most businesses (Worthen & Sherr, 2011).

New devices to be introduced by HP in the future will be compatible with the highly prevalent Windows operating system as well as the WebOS being developed by Hewlett Packard. It remains to be seen how successful Mr. Leo Apotheker is within his new capacity with stiff competition from other hardware manufacturers like the Apple Inc. and software giants like Microsoft and Google, especially after the recent spurt in popularity of the ‘Android’ operating system on handheld devices and ‘Linux’ on larger computers.

Works Cited Bertolucci, J (2011). Why Putting WebOS on Multiple HP Devices Is Good For You, Retrieved may 31, 2011 http://www.pcworld.com/article/221866/why_putting_webos_on_multiple_hp_devices_is_good_for_you.html McLaughlin, K (2011). HP Says WebOS TouchPad Will Differ From Tablet Rivals, Retrieved May 31, 2011 http://www.crn.com/news/client-devices/229502420/hp-says-webos-touchpad-will-differ-from-tablet-rivals.htm?itc=refresh WebOS: Operating System Services for Wide Area Applications, Retrieved May 31, 2011 http://www.cs.duke.

edu/ari/issg/webos/ Worthen, B. & Sherr, I. (2011). H-P CEO Takes the Stage, Retrieved May 31, 2011 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703363904576200992379192546.html