Fresh job cuts to be made at Hewlett Packard

HP IS SWINGING the axe again, and like the bad old days, it can't seem to get the ethically challenged do nothings, it is bent on firing those who the customers actually need. What a concept, it would make Carly proud, and probably lines management up for huge bonuses.

That said, there are two more places we are aware of that it is cutting, Corporate IT and EVA/Storage support. Both are going to hurt the company, which is why management will surely get bonuses, welcome to modern corporate pillaging.

The Corporate IT department (CFIT) under a one Ed Pennington is going to be shedding a lot of good people, probably too many. We hear the cuts, to be announced Monday, are deep enough to impact functionality in the organisation. Ed reports to Randy Mott, so you know the bonus chain on this one.

Less clear is where the bonuses are going in the EVA storage department. Level 2, so called 'back line' support for EVA, MSA and NAS in Europe is heading south and east to sunny India to keep the VMS folk company. We hear this transplant to Bangalore is set for early next year, so there is still time to buy EMC products for your end of year purchases.

You may notice that HP is moving most support to Bangalore, and this is not by accident. There is serious talk about moving just about everything to a 'competency centre' in India. We are told this means SAN, ISS, VMS, HP-UX, MS support and Supersome worldwide would go there.

Here is a hint to HP, not that it will understand what I am getting at, when you don't train and support your new support staff, they will not do the job well. Customers who are not happy with support cancel contracts and buy from your competitors - look at how much the Galileo fiasco cost you.

Call me cynical, but I am pretty sure that management knows this. It has stockholders snowed, employees cowered, and are running wild while raking in the cash.

Ethics seem to be for the lower tiers at HP nowadays. In any case, keep the info coming, sunlight kills germs, and if they catch you doing something unethical, it will only mean a new job title and possibly a promotion. Look out for your stick on gold 'Dunn' star as a gong. µ