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HP’s integration plan will see EDS assimilated into computing giant’s Technology Solutions Group

Hewlett Packard has revealed that Ron Rittenmeyer, CEO of EDS – the IT services giant it agreed to acquire in May 2008 – is to step down at the end of this year.

The company also announced that EDS is to become a business unit in its Technology Solutions Group. It will be run by current EDS vice president Joe Eazor, who will report directly to TSG head Ann Livermore.

The combined revenues of EDS and HP’s TSG division for the last financial quarter were $14.6 billion, 43% of HP’s total for the period. The company said that the restructuring would help it to sell customers better integrated systems and services.

“HP redefined the enterprise IT market with the acquisition of EDS. We are ahead of schedule with the integration of EDS, and combining TSG and EDS is the next step in that process,” said HP CEO Mark Hurd in a statement.

The integration of HP and EDS represents a gigantic restructuring of the IT services industry, and it has already met with some resistance. Last week, unions representing EDS’s UK employees wrote to HP protesting its decision to cut more than 3,000 jobs in the UK alone.

The company has revealed that it will make almost 25,000 redundancies following the acquisition.

Further reading

Union protests HP-EDS redundancy plan
Following HP’s warning that compulsory redundancies are on the cards, UK unions write letter of complaint to the European Commission

An interview with Ann Livermore
The head of HP’s $33 billion Technology Solutions Group talks to Information Age about the hottest topics in IT

Is consolidation in the IT services industry throttling competition?
As the number of IT services providers capable of global or large-scale governmental projects steadily declines, are the remaining few becoming too powerful?

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