Net Results Karlin LillingtonOut here in California, there has been surprisingly little speculation over Mark Hurd, Carly Fiorina's replacement as chief executive at HP. Described as "an unpretentious midwestern tech executive" by San Jose's Mercury News - in other words, the anti-Carly - Hurd otherwise did not create too much of a buzz in Silicon Valley.
A few things could account for that. First, he's midwestern, having been based out of Dayton, Ohio, with NCR, the former cash register company that now describes itself as a technology transactions solution company. The midwest - except for Chicago - doesn't really register on the Valley's tech Richter scale.
Hurd is also an unknown quantity. People know he turned NCR around, primarily through job and cost cutting, but NCR is a $6 billion (€4.7 billion) company that wouldn't command a huge amount of Valley attention. By contrast, HP is an $80 billion company that, as one of the grandads of the whole Valley tech industry, gets lots of attention.
Not that you would get that message from the NCR website, which announced Hurd's departure thus: "NCR has announced that Mark Hurd, president and chief executive, has resigned from NCR, effective immediately, to accept a position with a large global technology company." Perhaps it's just midwestern understatement.
Many here have expressed some surprise at the choice of Hurd to fill the top HP role and employees will almost certainly be worried that Hurd will bring the job cuts approach to the venerable HP.
Most outsiders seem to think the company needs a major shake up and are willing to see if Hurd will successfully supply it. If he does, Hurd will not exactly take the company out of the limelight, if that was what it was seeking when it opted for a less technicolor chief executive than she who is now known universally as "Carly".
* * * * *
Meanwhile, Intel president Paul Otellini gave a speech last week to a federal tax panel in San Francisco that hinted that the Republic is still well in the running for future expansion by the chip giant.
Testifying before US President Bush's advisory panel on tax reform, Otellini - who becomes Intel chief executive in May - warned that high taxes of 35 per cent on business revenue in the US could push Intel to locate future chip fabrication facilities in Asia and Europe.
In particular, he noted that Israel, Malaysia and Ireland all offered more inviting business climates. He told the panel: "The problem that we have, and which the industry has, is that it costs us $1 billion more to operate inside the US than outside the country. It's not wages and capital; it's almost all attributed to tax benefits - or the lack thereof - in the United States compared to what is offered elsewhere."
Nonetheless, 12 out of Intel's 16 factories are in the US. And with Intel - as with any firm so large that its decisions can affect regional and national economies - one has to weigh up whether the chip giant is sabre rattling or speaking with real intention.
Still, Otellini's comments give a slightly different perspective on the Republic's fears that it might lose all future investment without being able to offer huge state supports to the chipmaker under EU rules.
But, before the IDA gets too excited, Otellini also noted that two-thirds of the most cutting-edge chip factories being built are now going into Asia, not Europe.
* * * * *
Finally, broadband advocates in the United States are furious over a deal that Eircom and Esat BT in the Republic would no doubt love.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled - as expected - that telephone companies do not have to offer DSL (high-speed broadband internet) to people who do not also use the company as their phone provider.
In other words, phone services come bundled - at an extra charge - with DSL services whether you want them or not. That effectively eliminates competition from small, rival telecoms firms that might offer lower-cost phone services but that don't offer DSL.
It may also stifle the growth of very cheap internet telephony using broadband connections, as you would have to pay for a phone connection whether you want it or not.
Pundits are predicting that this move will hasten competition between cable and telephone companies, and increase the adoption of bundled phone services from the phone companies. The latter assumption helped to drive up shares at several phone companies following the FCC ruling.
On the other hand, many say that the whole telecoms market is changing so fast, with so many different sources of broadband and telephony services in the US, that the ruling won't have a major impact.
[ klillington@irish-times.ie ]
weblog: http://weblog.techno-culture.com
