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The Hewlett-Packard Company (, ), commonly known as HP, is one of the world's largest information technology corporations. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States, it has a global presence in the fields of computing, printing, and digital imaging, and also provides software and services.
Also within the Hewlett-Packard family is the Home & Home Office Store located at HPshopping.com HP's shopping zone for all home and home office users. Formerly known as HPShopping which changed in 2006 to Home & Home Office Store. (Sales Architech for HP)
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Founding
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HP was founded on January 11939 as a manufacturer of test and measurement instruments, by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, with a US$538 investment. They had both graduated from Stanford University in 1934. The company originated in a garage there while they were still fellows at Stanford. (so their story was more "academic gowns to riches" than rags to riches).
Their first product was a precision audio oscillator, the Model 200A. Their innovation was the use of a small night-light bulb as a temperature dependent resistor in a critical portion of the circuit. This allowed them to sell the Model 200A for $54.40 when competitors were selling less stable oscillators for over $200. The Model 200 series of generators continued until at least 1972 as the 200AB, still tube-based but improved in design through the years. At 33 years, it was perhaps the longest-selling basic electronic design of all time.
The company name, Hewlett-Packard, was derived from the founders' last names. Had Bill not won a coin toss, the company today might be known as Packard-Hewlett. One of the company's earliest customers was Walt Disney Productions, who bought eight Model 200B oscillators (at $71.50 each) for use in testing the Fantasound stereophonic sound system for the movie Fantasia.
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Inventions
If you have a new computer with DVD burner you may have what is called Lightscribe Technology. This Technology lets people burn DVD's and when it is finished you can flip the Lightscribe* DVD disc what you used to burn DVD and Burn an image to your dics. Its a paperless system. It is currently a black and white system laser system.
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Focus
The company was originally rather unfocused, working on a wide range of electronic products for industry and even agriculture. Eventually they elected to focus on high-quality electronic test and measurement equipment. Throughout the 1940s to well into the 1990s the company focused on making signal generators, voltmeters, oscilloscopes, counters, and other test equipment. Their distinguishing feature was pushing the limits of measurement range and accuracy. For instance, almost every HP voltmeter or signal generator has one or more extra clicks of its knobs than its competitors. HP volt- or ammeters would measure down and up an extra 10 to 100 times the units of other meters. Although there were good reasons why competing meters stopped at 1 volt full scale, HP engineers figured out ways of extending the range of their equipment by a considerable amount. They also focused on extreme accuracy and stability, leading to a wide range of very accurate, precise, and stable frequency counters, voltmeters, thermometers, and time standards.
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The sixties and seventies
HP is recognized as the symbolic founder of Silicon Valley, although it did not actively investigate semiconductor devices until a few years after the "Traitorous Eight" had abandoned William Shockley to create Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957. Hewlett-Packard's HP Associates division, established around 1960, developed semiconductor devices primarily for internal use. Instruments and calculators were some of the products using these devices.
HP is acknowledged by Wired magazine as the producer of the world's first personal computer, in 1968, the Hewlett-Packard 9100A. HP called it a desktop calculator because, as Bill Hewlett said, "If we had called it a computer, it would have been rejected by our customers' computer gurus because it didn't look like an IBM. We therefore decided to call it a calculator, and all such nonsense disappeared." An engineering triumph at the time, the logic circuit was produced without any integrated circuits; the assembly of the CPU having been entirely executed in discrete components. With CRT readout, magnetic card storage, and printer the price was around $5000.
The company earned global respect for a variety of products. They introduced the world's first handheld scientific electronic calculator in 1972 (the HP-35), the first handheld programmable in 1974 (the HP-65), the first alphanumeric, programmable, expandable in 1979 (the HP-41C), and the first symbolic and graphing calculator HP-28C. Like their scientific and business calculators, their oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other measurement instruments have a reputation for sturdiness and usability (the latter products are now part of spin-off Agilent's product line). The company's design philosophy in this period was summarized as "design for the guy at the next bench".
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The eighties and beyond
In 1984, HP introduced both inkjet and laser printers for the desktop. Along with its scanner product line, these have later been developed into successful multifunction products, the most significant being single-unit printer/scanner/copier/fax machines. The print mechanisms in HP's tremendously popular LaserJet line of laser printers depend almost entirely on Canon's components (print engines), which in turn use technology developed by Xerox. HP develops the hardware, firmware, and software that convert data into dots for the mechanism to print.
In the 1990s, HP expanded their computer product line, which initially had been targeted at university, research, and business customers, to reach consumers. Later in the decade HP opened hpshopping.com as an independent subsidiary to sell online, direct to consumers; the store was rebranded "HP Home & Home Office Store" in 2005. HP also grew through acquisitions, buying Apollo Computer in 1989, Convex Computer in 1995, and Compaq in 2002. Compaq itself had bought Tandem Computers in 1997 (which had been started by ex-HP employees), and Digital Equipment Corporation in 1998. Following this strategy HP became a major player in desktops, laptops, and servers for many different markets.
In 1987, the Palo Alto garage where Hewlett and Packard started their business was designated as a California State historical landmark.
In July of 1999, HP appointed Carly Fiorina as CEO. Fiorina was the first woman ever to serve as CEO of a company included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Fiorina was forced to resign on February 9, 2005.
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Technology and products
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Imaging and Printing Group (IPG)
According to HP's 2005 U.S. SEC 10-K filing, HP's Imaging and Printing Group is "the leading imaging and printing systems provider in the world for printer hardware, printing supplies and scanning devices, providing solutions across customer segments from individual consumers to small and medium businesses to large enterprises."
Products and technology associated with the Imaging and Printing Group include:
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Personal Systems Group
HP's Personal Systems Group is "one of the leading vendors of personal computers ("PCs") in the world based on unit volume shipped and annual revenue."
Personal Systems Group products/technology include:
Consumer PCs including the HP Pavilion, Compaq Presario and VoodooPC series.
Workstations for Unix, Windows and Linux systems.
Handheld Computing including iPAQ Pocket PC handheld computing devices
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Technology Solutions Group
In HP's financial reporting, HP groups its Enterprise Storage and Servers, HP
Services and Software under Technology Solutions Group.
HP's Enterprise Storage and Servers Group has product/technology including:
the ProLiant entry line of x86 based servers (from Compaq)
the BladeSystem x86 based blade servers
the HP AlphaServer productline using the Alpha processor (from DEC) and running on both:
the OpenVMS large-scale, highly available server operating system (from DEC)
MIPs based Nonstop fault-tolerant server products
the StorageWorks product line, which includes business class and enterprise class data storage and protection products.
the ProCurve family of network switches, wireless access points, and routers.
HP's Software division has products/technologies including:
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HP Labs
HP Labs (or HP Laboratories) is the research arm of HP. Founded in 1966, HP Labs' function is to deliver breakthrough technologies and to create business opportunities that go beyond HP's current strategies. An example of recent HP Lab technology includes the Memory spot chip.
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Partnerships
Hewlett-Packard is a supporter of FOSS and Linux. Some HP employees, such as Linux CTO and former Debian Project Leader Bdale Garbee actively contribute and have official Open Source job responsibilities. Many others participate in the Open Source community as unpaid volunteers. HP is also known in the (GNU/)Linux community for releasing drivers for many of their printers under the GNU GPL.
Hewlett-Packard also works extensively with Microsoft and uses technology from most major software and hardware vendors. Until November 2005, HP offered a re-branded version of Apple's famous iPod.
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Sponsorships
HP has many sponsorships. One well know sponsorship would be will Walt Disney Worlds EPCOT Park's Mission: Space. Others can be found on Hewlett-Packards Website *
Image:HP Presents MissionSpace Sign.jpg|Mission: Space Sign
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Product Legacy
Agilent Technologies, not HP, retains the direct product legacy of the original company founded in 1939. Agilent's current portfolio of electronic instruments are descended from HP's very earliest products. HP entered the computer business only after its instrumentation competencies were well-established. Agilent was spun off from HP in 1999. The merger with Compaq has distanced HP even farther from its roots in test and measurement.
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Culture
The founders, known to friends and employees alike as Bill and Dave, developed a unique management style that has come to be known as the HP Way. In Bill's words, the HP Way is "a core ideology . . . that includes a deep respect for the individual, a dedication to affordable quality and reliability, a commitment to community responsibility, and a view that the company exists to make technical contributions for the advancement and welfare of humanity."
The HP Alumni Association maintains a tribute to Bill and Dave's version of the HP Way, circa 1992.
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Trivia
HP spun off a small company, Dynec, to specialize in digital equipment. As a side-benefit, the HP logo "hp" could be turned upside down to read "dy". Eventually Dynec changed to Dymec, then was folded back into HP.
HP partnered in the 1960s with Sony and the Yokogawa Electric companies in Japan to develop several high-quality products. The products were not a huge success, as there were high costs in building HP-looking products in Japan.
Just about every HP product in the test equipment line was labeled with three to five digits followed by the letter "A". Improved versions went to suffixes "B" thru "D". A small handful of products somehow got bizarre model numbers, such as the "H201-20" microwave signal generator.
Steve Wozniak originally designed the Apple I computer while working at HP, but they turned down his offer of licensing the design to HP.
HP products were usually very rugged, with clean styling, top notch components, and with conservative specifications, so customers were usually pleasantly surprised when the equipment looked and worked better than expected. There were a few missteps, however:
In the 1960s they briefly went to painting their equipment a light lavender color.
In the early 1970s they started a line of "lower cost" test equipment with atrociously ugly and flimsy plastic cases. The cases also got a bad case of 1970s colors, coming out in dark shag rug green and burnt orange.
On test equipment made in the 1980s a common problem was flimsy knobs that easily broke off.
A very few innovative but malfunctioning products, such as the original HP 3000 computers, had to be recalled for extensive reworking.
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Management
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History
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Diversity
Hewlett-Packard received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 2003, the second year of the report. In addition, the company was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine.
Hewlett-Packard is also involved in the NEPAD e-school program to provide all schools in Africa with computers and internet access.
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Ad campaigns
Hewlett-Packard has used a number of innovative commercials to sell its products.
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The Computer is Personal Again
In May 2006, the company launched a new campaign designed to make its PC line more relevant and "cool." The campaign utilized viral marketing, sophisticated visuals, and its own web site . Some of the ads featured well-known personalities - Pharrell, Mark Burnett, Mark Cuban, Jay-Z, and Shaun White. Rather than show a bunch of talking heads, each advertisement showed a neck-down view in which the endorser, aided greatly by graphics, visually showed how they used HP products.
Two months later, Dell followed up with its own campaign entitled "Purely You," , which seems to piggyback off the HP idea.
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You + HP: digital photography
A television ad campaign for Hewlett-Packard's digital photography (titled "You + HP: digital photography") has been noted for its simple special effects and choice of music. It won "Campaign of the Year" from Adweek magazine in 2004.
Songs used in "You + HP" Campaign:
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Data Systems, Inc.
A small 5-person company called Data Systems, Inc. Owned by a chemical manufacturer, Union Carbide, who failed in their diversification efforts, HP bought the group and this helped to launch the HP 2116A in 1966. A computer designed to automate the collection and processing of data from the company’s test and measurement devices, it marked HPs entry into the growing computer industry.
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Apollo
In 1989, HP Acquired Apollo computer for $476 million. HP was able to achieve a growth in market share after the merger; with the market at the time valued at $4.1 billion and the fastest-growing area of the market.
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Verifone
On April 23, 1997, HP announced plans to acquire VeriFone, the leading provider of card-swipe terminals on retail countertops to approve purchases, in a $1.18 billion stock swap. On May 102001, Gores Technology Group acquired VeriFone from HP.
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Bluestone
On January 18, 2001, HP acquired Bluestone Software, Inc., a leading provider of B2B, B2C, and wireless open platform solutions.
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Indigo
On March 22, 2002, HP acquired Indigo N.V., a leader in digital offset color printing systems.
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Compaq
On May 3, 2002, Hewlett-Packard merged with Compaq Computer Corporation, a controversial move intended to make the company the personal computing leader. The merger opposition was led by Walter Hewlett, son of HP founder William Hewlett; and by David Woodley Packard, son of co-founder David Packard.
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Snapfish
On April 15, 2005, HP acquired Snapfish, a leading online photo service based in San Francisco, California, USA.
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AppIQ
In October of 2005, Hewlett-Packard acquired the private company AppIQ (short for "Application IQ"). The company was founded in 2001 by Ash Ashutosh and David Chang, and offered several digital storage solutions. The company had employed up to 235 people by June 2005.
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OuterBay
On February 7, 2006, HP agreed to acquire OuterBay, a leading provider of archiving software for enterprise applications and databases. OuterBay is headquartered in Cupertino, California, USA, with offices in the US, UK, and India.
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Silverwire
On June 6, 2006, HP announced it was acquiring Silverwire Holding AG, a commercial digital photography solutions and software provider with a strong presence in the retail photo market. Silverwire is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland.
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Mercury Interactive
On July 25, 2006, HP announced plans to acquire Mercury Interactive (MERQ.PK), a company that provides Business Technology Optimization software (i.e. software that helps a company govern, develop and maintain its technology stack). This acquisition is expected to occur in Q4 2006 and will result in an HP software business of around $2 billion.
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VoodooPC
On September 28, 2006, HP announced it will expand its presence in the gaming market by acquiring VoodooPC, a maker of high-performance gaming, luxury, and entertainment PCs based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This acquisition closed early in November 2006.
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Competitors
Major competitors of HP in the computer business include Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway, Lenovo (Purchased IBM's Non-server Personal Computer Business), Sony and Toshiba. Major competitors of HP in the server business include Sun Microsystems, IBM and Dell. Major competitors of HP in the printer business include Brother, Canon, Epson, Lexmark and Dell (who rebrands and repackages Lexmark products). Upon acquiring Voodoo PC, HP and its newest subdivision will compete in the enthusiast market against Falcon Northwest, Alienware (A division of Dell), WidowPC and other manufacturers.
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HP pretexting scandal
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On September 5, 2006 Newsweek published a story revealing that the chairwoman of HP, Patricia Dunn, had hired a team of independent electronic-security experts that later spied on HP board members and several journalists, to determine the source of confidential details regarding HP's long-term strategy that was published as part of a CNET article in January, 2006. The group of electronic-security experts had used a technique known as pretexting to obtain call records of HP board members and nine journalists, including reporters for CNET, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The investigators had misrepresented themselves as the board members and journalists to their phone companies in order to obtain their phone records. Dunn has claimed she did not know beforehand the methods the investigators used to try and determine the source of the leak.
Board member George Keyworth was ultimately outed as the source and on September 12, 2006, along with HP's announcement that Mark Hurd, the current CEO, will replace Dunn as Chairman after the HP board meeting on January 18, 2007. It was also announced that Dunn would continue as a HP board member after January 18, 2007, a position she had held since 1998.• On September 22, 2006 Hurd announced at a special press conference that Ms. Dunn had resigned effective immediately from both the Chairmanship and the Board; no statement was issued to indicate whether Dunn's departure was connected to the pretexting scandal or not. On September 28, 2006, Ann Baskins, HP's general counsel (head attorney) resigned effective immediately,• hours before she was to appear as a witness before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce at which she would later invoke the Fifth Amendment to refuse to answer questions.•
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California criminal case
On October 42006, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed criminal charges and arrest warrants against Kevin Hunsaker, Dunn and three outside investigators.• The complaint alleges the following four felony violations of the California Penal Code:
Conspiracy to commit crime in violation of Sections 182(a)(1)
Fraudulent use of wire, radio, or television transmissions in violation of Section 538.5
Taking, copying, and using computer data in violation of Section 502(c)(2)
Using personal identifying information without authorization in violation of Section 530.5(a)
The criminal complaint can be found here. Although the investigation is still in progress, notably HP CEO Mark Hurd, former HP employees Ann Baskins and Anthony Gentilucci, and the company itself were not charged.
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Investigation by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce
On September 11, 2006, CNET News.com publicly released a five-page letter written by the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce to Patricia Dunn stating that they have, for the past seven months, been conducting an investigation on Internet-based data brokers who allegedly use "lies, fraud and deception" to acquire personal information, and allow anyone who pay a "modest fee" to acquire "itemized incoming and outgoing call logs", not only for cell phone numbers but also for VoIP numbers, landline numbers, and unpublished phone numbers. Additional data that could be given include addresses and other personal data, obtained without the consent or prior notice to the owner of the number. The committee had learned about HP's use of pretexting through their September 6th SEC filing and through their own inquiry of HP's Nominating and Governance Committee, stating they are "troubled" by the information, "particularly that it involves HP—one of America's corporate icons."
The committee requested, under Rules X and XI of the United States House of Representatives, the following information from HP by September 18, 2006:
1. The name and identity of the outside consulting firm cited in HP's September 6th, 2006, filing with the SEC (the outside consulting firm), and of any other outside consultants who were hired by HP to assist in conducting the Leak Investigation.
2. Copies of any contracts, letters of engagement and investigative plans related to the Leak Investigation that was conducted by the outside consulting firm or by any other party.
3. The names and identities of all third parties, whether hired directly by HP or by HP's outside consulting firm, who were used during the leak investigation to procure, or to attempt to procure telephone records and other personal consumer information of any targets or subjects of the Leak Investiagation
4. A list of all individuals or entities that were targets or subjects, or designated as targets or subjects, of the Leak Investigation.
5. A list of all individuals, including HP employees, who were involved with conducting the Leak Investigation or who had contemporaneous knowledge of the Leak Investigation.
6. A list of all individuals or entities whose telephone records or other personal consumer information were procured or attempted to be procured by the outside consulting firm or by any party during the period January 1st, 2005, to the present.
7. A list of all individuals whose telephone records or other personal consumer information were procured by the outside consulting firm or by any party during the period January 1st, 2005, to the present. For each individual, describe the types of records that were procured.
8. Copies of all reports prepared for the Leak Investigation by the outside consulting firm or by any other party, including any and all analysis or opinions regarding the appropriateness or legality of pretexting.
9. A copy of the letter of engagement with the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati regarding the Committee Inquiry.
10. Copies of all reports prepared for the Committee Inquiry, including any report prepared by the firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
11. Copies of all draft and final Board minutes that either relate to either the Leak Investigation or the Committee Inquiry.
In addition to the above mentioned information, the Committee on Energy and Commerce is also requesting the following information from HP by September 25th, 2006:
12. All records relating either the Leak Investigation or Committee Inquiry, incuding but not limited to communications to or from the outside consulting firm, communications by or between HP employees or Board Members, and communications to or from the outside counsel. Please do not provide any copies of the actual telephone records or any other records procured.
Baskins' attorney's letter to the committee contains several documents describing the investigatory methods, who was pretexted, and whether there were any illegal acts committed, including memoranda prepared by HP's outside law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati (Larry Sonsini was among the witnesses at the hearing.) •
Hunsaker's May 24 confidential "attorney-client privileged" final report, which gives full details of the investigation, is also available. •
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Perceived impact on the companys operations
It is interesting to note that, despite intense media coverage, investors continue to show faith in the company. As of October 23rd, the price of the company's stock had actually increased from $36.50 to $39.87 per share , a six-year high, apparently reflecting a belief in the investment community that the events described here will have little to no impact on the company's financial results.
An October 8, 2006 Reuters story noted that Hewlett-Packard is hardly the only company to benefit from information gathered via such "rogue" pretexting methods.
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Traceable E-mail
Fred Adler of HP revealed before a U.S. Congressional Inquiry that HP Security used an e-mail tracking service called ReadNotify.com to trace an bogus leak in an e-mail sent to CNET reporter Dawn Kawamoto. The e-mail contained a Web bug. Adler said HP Security considers Web bugs to be a legitimate investigative tool, and has used them a number of times.
The California attorney general’s office has said that this practice was not part of the Pretexting charges.
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Criticism
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Calculators
In March 2002, HP announced that it would no longer manufacture financial and scientific calculators – a product line and, indeed, a market, that HP had started thirty years before. HP later recanted and stated in a press release, "The bottom line is that HP calculators are here to stay and they are going to be better than ever, giving our customers more than ever." The extremely popular HP-12C financial calculator, introduced in 1981, still remains in production today.
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Iraq
During the Iran-Iraq war, according to the Financial Times, HP was among the companies accused of shipping militarily useful technology to Iraq before Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq HP shipped militarily useful technology to US forces. In August 2006, a video was widely distributed showing a soldier "repairing" an HP printer/fax/copier by destroying it with a machinegun, saying that HP wanted to charge him for the information he needed to fix it. HP responded with the statement: "HP was aware of the issue and resolved it back in March. HP responds to each customer service request individually as appropriate and that response is confidential. We take customer service seriously and are committed to providing good customer service." *
The video — and many comments about HP's behavior and the behavior of the soldier — can be viewed here. * It is not clear from either the video or the article why the soldier did not use whatever system the Army has for supporting equipment that it buys and ships into battle zones.
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Outsourcing
In 1994, HP decided to outsource its manufacturing to third-party vendors and oversea countries to lower costs and raise profits. Today, desktop computers are assembled in Guadalajara, Mexico where HP employs approximately 1,500 workers. Notebook computers are assembled in China from third-party vendors. Servers and workstations are still assembled in the United States.
In 2003, HP had 140,000 employees world wide. Under HP's current restructuring program, HP began reducing its workforce to lower its costs. By 2006, HP experienced a record profit of $1.5 billion in just one quarter.
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HP and the environment
HP have been criticized by Greenpeace, among others. Greenpeace and other environmental groups have alleged HP of poor environmental standards, specifically in relation to the elimination of hazardous substances from products as specified by the European Union's RoHS guidelines for brominated flame retardants and PVC. Greenpeace is also alleging HP of not doing enough to recycle computers and other technology equipment.
Greenpeace's criticism of the technology industry is not limited exclusively to HP, as competitors such as Dell and Apple have also come under fire for alleged similar practices.
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See also
Packard Bell - A similarly named radio and TV manufacturer, with no connection to either HP or the Bell System. The name was resurrected in 1986 as a manufacturer of personal computers. Now owned by Gateway, Inc.
Packard Instrument - A similarly named nuclear instrumentation company with no connection to HP. Now owned by PerkinElmer.
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