BU Now » Hewlett-Packard

James Post: Hurd’s move to Oracle major risk

Jo Breiner — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:08:14 +0000

Palm bought by H-P

Dick Taffe — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:15:32 +0000

Struggling smart-phone pioneer Palm Inc., unable to keep up with Apple’s iPhone or RIM’s Blackberry, is being bought out by Hewlett-Packard for around $1.4 billion in cash. School of Management Professor N. Venkat Venkatraman, chair of the Information Systems Department, says he has his doubts if H-P CEO Mark Hurd can make this bet pay off.

“But if he can develop a series of devices (netbooks, smartphones and other devices) using Palm WebOS, then H-P could emerge as a serious competitor to Apple, Google, Nokia, RIMM and Microsoft. “

Contact N. Venkat Venkatraman, 617-353-7117, venkat@bu.edu

IBM/Sun Microsystems merger talks collapse

Dick Taffe — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:36:55 +0000

School of Management Professor N. “Venkat” Venkatraman, chairman of the Information Systems Department, says the breakdown of the merger talks between IBM and Sun Microsystems is bad news for Sun.

“I am wondering if HP or Dell may get into the fray now that IBM seems to be walking away. Both could benefit from having Sun as part of its portfolio. Or will it be a case, like Yahoo, with the board appointing a new team to develop an alternate course of action?

“It is clear that Sun is too small to be a dominant force in the transformations under way. I thought that the IBM-Sun combination was a good one for both players and IBM’s premium was attractive to Sun. But clearly, there are hidden details and contractual conditions that have forced IBM to take a step back.

“The breakdown is more of a problem for Sun than for IBM now.”

Contact N. “Venkat” Venkatraman, 617-353-7117, venkat@bu.edu