Hewlett-Packard's (HP) move to acquire the consulting arm of accounting giant Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) should strengthen the computer-maker's ability to meet the fundamental shift in the business landscape.
Chairman, president and chief executive Carly Fiorina, in her keynote speech at the Networld & Interop conference and exhibition in Atlanta said the best way for HP to accelerate its growth and address this market shift was 'through an acquisition of a premier consultancy'.
On September 11, HP said it was in discussions to acquire PwC's management consulting services practice to advance its move into the information-technology consulting business.
HP reportedly is negotiating to acquire PwC's global management and IT consulting enterprise for US$17.5 billion in cash and stock.
Ms Fiorina said the move was consistent with HP's belief that there was 'a sea change in how systems vendors and consulting practices go to market'.
Relationships between consultants, systems integrators and technology providers were commonplace and involved every known name in the industry, including such players as Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Andersen Consulting and KPMG.
