Four Board Members Replaced by HP

Sometimes companies have to make changes and sometimes those changes are big. Just ask the people at Hewlett-Packard. Only a few months out of the scandal involving Mark Hurd, HP is giving its board of directors a little bit of a makeover. HP released yesterday that they are replacing four board members as well as adding an additional seat. The four members that are being replaced are Joel Hyatt, John Joyce, Robert Ryan and Lucille Salhany.

The individuals replacing these four are newcomers Shumeet Banerji, CEO of Booz & Company; Gary Reiner, former CIO at GE; Patricia Russo, former CEO of Alcatel-Lucent; Dominique Senequier, CEO of AXA Private Equity; and Meg Whitman, former president and CEO of eBay and a recent California gubernatorial candidate. This increases the number of board members at HP from 12 to 13.

All five of the new directors will also stand for re-election at HP's next annual meeting in March. According to Ray Lane, HP's non-executive chairman of the board of directors, "The addition of these new directors will further diversify the outstanding talents and wide-ranging experience that our directors already bring to HP. Lane, also in his statement, thanked the four retiring members saying that they "worked tirelessly and effectively to navigate HP through a difficult leadership change in the last six months."

Robert Ryan, former lead independent director of the board, called it "a great privilege to serve on the HP board and see this outstanding company build on its legacy as a technology leader and innovator." Ryan also went on to express his confidence in Lane as well as the new CEO Leo Apotheker. Ryan added, "HP has a strong leadership team in place to continue moving the company forward."

These replacements seem to coincide with the investigation HP is ready to start into the circumstances surrounding the resignation of former CEO Mark Hurd from the company. Hurd, the now CEO of HP rival company Oracle, resigned as CEO back in August after sexual harassment allegations led to an inquiry which found that Hurd had misrepresented his expenses to the company.

HP reported that they want this investigation to be independent and led by a committee of outside attorneys and board members who joined HP after the resignation of Hurd. However, that means that only two board members will be eligible, Apotheker and Lane. However, with the new slew of Directors that just came in, this would mean that they all could participate.

Adding a bunch of new faces allows Aptheker to add new blood and cut old ties. Until this change, some directors were approaching nearly a decade on the board. Salhany was named a director back in 2002, Ryan in 2004 and Joyce and Hyatt were both added in 2007. The longest serving ones on the board now were added in 2005 when Hurd first arrived at the company.

Lane did clarify that the four members that left did so voluntarily and that their departure had nothing to do with Hurd's. The only problem with the new members is that they will have little time to make themselves at home before jumping into the fray. Aside from the Hurd investigation, HP is facing shareholder lawsuits over the severance package Hurd received. The Securities and Exchange Commission is also snooping around and asking questions about Hurd revealing an impending purchase of Electronic Data Systems to a former contractor months before it was announced to the public.

HP has a lot on its plate at the moment and the new board members will definitely have their hands full in the coming months.

Source: CNET

A Tech Travel Agent can get a laptop to you within 24 business hours in over 1000 cities worldwide. Call 800-736-8772


We have 3987 Installers, Technicians and Engineers stationed in nearly 1000 locations worldwide to serve you.

Read More

HP Will Be Paying Out $16.25 M in Settlement

HP is a very well-known technological name, but the company is really not having the best of years so far in 2010. It’s not their sales numbers or their products; it’s something very different that they had complete control over. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced that HP will be paying out $16.25 million in order to settle e-rate fraud charges.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission say that contractors for HP “wined and dined” certain Dallas public school officials so that they would be able to obtain insider information that would assist them in winning competitive e-rate contracts from the school system. These contracts are a government program that work to fund Internet connections in public schools and libraries.

Now, HP’s contractors did more than just take workers from the Dallas Independent School District and the Houston Independent School District out to dinner or something like that. These contractors bought the school officials lavish gifts that included things like yacht trips and tickets to the 2004 Super Bowl. All of these gifts helped HP to secure the contracts that they wanted. These contracts included more than $17 million worth of HP equipment. The government was tipped off about HP’s dealings with the school districts. This prompted the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission’s investigation of the allegations.

As a result of HP’s dealings and of the Federal Communication Commission’s investigations, they will be paying out $16.25 million. The FCC says that most of the money will be returned to the e-rate program. They have also said that in the future they will make sure that HP follows all of the e-rate requirements so that this does not happen again.

"The FCC's compliance agreement with HP ensures that HP will train its employees thoroughly on the FCC's gift and other e-rate rules and provides for audits of HP's e-rate business," said the general counsel of the FCC, Austin Schlick. "If HP fails to monitor its e-rate activities closely and abide by e-rate program requirements, it will face substantial penalties."

HP said that they have now dismissed all of the contractors that broke the rules concerning the e-rate contract. “HP requires that all employees and partners adhere to lawful and ethical business practices," stated the company. "The activities at the center of this investigation occurred more than five years ago, the partner relationships have been terminated, and the employees involved are no longer with the company." They also added, “HP fully cooperated with the authorities, and the matter is now resolved.”

The chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, said, “Broadband is key to our children's 21st century education. That's why one of the FCC's top priorities is making sure e-rate works to benefit students and libraries. Today's settlement shows the extensive efforts of the FCC and DOJ to protect the e-rate program from waste, fraud, and abuse, and to deter misconduct in the future."

The FCC edited the e-rate program slightly in September so that there would be no misunderstandings or abuses concerning the rules about soliciting or receiving gifts within the program. They also added a few rules to make sure that the bidding process was completely fair for everyone that is involved.

In the market for an AV Rental? Rentacomputer.com has a wide range of AV rentals delivered nationwide. Call today at 800-736-8772.

Read More

Hewlett-Packard CEO Forced to Resign

Hewlett-Packard, the country's best-selling computer brand and the world's largest technology company, is without a leader today. According to the Associated Press, CEO Mark Hurd was forced to resign this week after being accused of falsifying "expenses to hide numerous private dinners with a woman who was paid up to $5,000 per event to greet people and make introductions among executives attending HP events that she helped organize."

The woman in question had accused Hurd of sexual harassment. However, both Hurd and the woman's lawyer, Gloria Allred, claimed the relationship between the two was not sexual. The board of directions said that even though Hurd didn't actually violate its sexual harassment policy, he did break its rules of conduct. Despite the accusations from HP's board of directors, Hurd insists the money spent to pay the woman was a legitimate business expense, but he also says he doesn't have a record of just how much was spent.

After the news was released on Friday, HP's stock fell 10% in after-hours trading. Despite the loss, analysts say the drop was merely a reaction to the news and nothing to be concerned about.
Hurd began at HP in 2005 after 25 years at NRC Corp. With Hurd at the wheel HP spent over $20 billion on acquisitions that helped turn the company into a well-rounded computer company. The most recent was the $1.4 billion purchase of smartphone maker Palm Inc. in June. During his tenure, the company's market value nearly doubled.

So, who will replace Hurd? No one knows for sure just yet, but there are rumors swirling that it could be an internal candidate. Some of the potential replacements from inside the company include Todd Bradley, who oversees personal computers and mobile devices; Vyomesh Joshi, who oversees printers; Ann Livermore, who leads the servers, services, software, and storage division; and Shane Robison, HP's leader of corporate strategy and marketing. Cathie Lesjak, the company's CFO, is serving as interim CEO until a replacement is named, but she insists she would not take the permanent job.

Don't feel sorry for Hurd though. He will walk away with about $28 million in cash and stock.

As for HP, this is the third "scandal" to hit the company's top executives in five years. Former CEO Carly Fiorina was forced to resign after the company's controversial deal to buy Compaq in 2002 didn't produce the desired results. In 2006 Chairwoman Patricia Dunn was forced to leave after a boardroom spying scandal involving spying on reporters' and directors' phone records which were being leaked to the media.

Related Stories:
1. United States Computer Rentals
2. Hewlett-Packard Computer Rentals

---

Looking for Computer / PC Rental information? Visit the www.rentacomputer.com PC Rental page for your short term business PC needs. Or see this link for a complete line of Personal Computer Rentals.

Read More

HP Tops US Computer Sales

There is some new information about 2010 United States computer sales and it comes from a preliminary estimate made by International Data Corporation. Hewlett-Packard and Dell are leading the way with about 26% and 24%, respectively, of all American computer sales, but the real change is the competition going on for third place.

For a long time, Acer has easily been number three, but according to the new data, Apple, who is in the number four spot, is starting to gain ground. Acer's numbers have dropped significantly from about 23% to 11% of all computers sold, while Apple's have increased. Apple currently controls about 8.8% of the computer market.

So, why the big changes for Acer and Apple? There are several possibilities. International Data Corporation says that Acer had an unusually "strong year-ago performance," but that it's growing faster in other markets than it is in the United States.

There is also the theory that those who would have purchased an Acer netbook in the past are turning to Apple to purchase an iPad instead. However, because the iPad is not considered a traditional computer, that theory can't be confirmed. However, there are rumors circulating that Acer is coming out with its own tablet computer in the future.

As for computer sales as a whole, during the first half of 2010, the United States saw an overall increase in the number of shipments - 12.6%. Worldwide, computer purchases increased by 22.4% over last year. As for the second half of the year, there is a lot of back and forth between analysts about what will happen, due to the fluctuating economy.

---

Looking for Computer / PC Rental information? Visit the www.rentacomputer.com PC Rental page for your short term business PC needs. Or see this link for a complete line of Personal Computer Rentals.

Read More

Five Reasons to Get New Hardware in 2010

The year may be wrapping up but computer sales are on the rise. People are looking for new, innovative technology for a number of reasons. If you have been thinking about buying a new computer or upgrading your old one, there is no better time than 2010! Whether you are looking to save money or for better quality, or anything in between, here are a few quick reasons why you should refresh your computer hardware in the new year:

• Make Life Easier - The newly released Windows 7 Professional has a number of features such as Quicklook 3 and Quickweb which allow you to access your personal information online or on your PC without even having to boot up!
• Save Time - Newer computers boasting Windows 7 and Intel Core 2 Duo processors run much faster than your old one. Some can run up to three times as fast! Even laptops have large increased power performances with new technology.
• Save Money - In an age where everyone is working to be "green" and save energy, many new computers operate using less power than the old ones. Hewlett Packard says their new desktops consume up to 55% more energy than the older ones! That means lot of savings on your power bill.
• Less Downtime - Everyone who owns an older computer knows they spend way too much time dealing with downtime. Whether you're having to call in a computer technician for repairs or rebooting or scanning files for problems, it seems like something goes wrong almost weekly. Newer computers have less problems and in turn, will allow you to be more productive.
• Special Offers - So many computer companies offer special deals when you buy a computer, you really have nothing to lose and this will only add to your new computer's value. For example, at Hewlett Packard, you receive over $1,000 in free offers when your purchase a new PC and if you trade in an old computer, you can get up to $100 in cash from the company's Trade-In Program.
  
  
  

  ---

  
  Looking for Computer / PC Rental information? Visit the www.rentacomputer.com PC Rental page for your short term business PC needs. Or see this link for a complete line of Personal Computer Rentals.

Read More