El, most of these credits are brought to you by Compaq New England aka Digital Equipment.
On the other hand here is a Boston Globe article on what's coming to Compaq New England:
New England sites jittery as they await post-merger fate
By Ross Kerber, Globe Staff, 4/1/2002
Since Compaq Computer Corp. is an investor in his venture fund, you might expect venture
capitalist Howard Anderson of YankeeTek Ventures to be upbeat about Compaq's proposed
merger with Hewlett-Packard Co.
He's not, and he's blunt about it. Anderson, based in Cambridge, notes that few previous big
technology mergers met expectations. And he expects more layoffs among Compaq's
approximately 6,500 employees in the region whether the merger is completed or not. ''Either way,
New England is screwed,'' he said.
Though the two big computer companies have said they expect to eliminate 15,000 of their
combined 145,000 jobs worldwide in coming years, they haven't specified - and maybe haven't yet
identified - where the cuts will be made.
But many Compaq operations in New England overlap with HP operations elsewhere, in fields
ranging from data storage to technology services for corporate customers. These may be
vulnerable, since the combined company will seek to eliminate duplication.
Conversely, if the ongoing vote count shows HP shareholders have rejected the merger, financial
pressures on Compaq would force it to fire workers anyway, Anderson said. And it's easier to cut
jobs far from headquarters, he said. ''Massachusetts is the Third World in regards to both Compaq
and HP,'' he said.
Area Compaq employees, many of whom joined the Houston-based company when Compaq
acquired Digital Equipment Corp. in 1998, may have already seen the handwriting on the wall.
Compaq's headcount in the region now stands at 500 fewer people than it did last September,
when the merger with HP was announced.
The decrease was due to ''normal attrition,'' said Compaq spokesman Dick Calandrella. In the fall,
Compaq quietly closed an office in Stow, though it says employees there were distributed among
other offices.
Major Compaq sites that remain include two in Nashua, N.H., focused on software and
''ruggedized'' computers built to withstand abuse, a Littleton center for Compaq's services and
data-storage units, and a financial operations office in Marlborough.
A spokeswoman for HP wouldn't disclose the company's regional employment. But local
employees put it at more than 500 people, mainly at a sales office in Burlington and a chip
technology development lab in Cambridge.
The future wasn't supposed to look so bleak for the Compaq employees. When the personal
computer maker purchased Digital for $9.6 billion four years ago, layoffs had already reduced
Digital's work force in Massachusetts and New Hampshire far below its peak of 30,000. Compaq
figured it could capitalize on Digital's high-margin corporate services group, but it never gained the
services sales it had expected. Senior executives there gradually defected or quit.
Since the latest proposed merger was announced, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq have suggested
they're ready for another push in services. They plan to combine their services divisions under a
California-based executive, Ann Livermore. Some worry that's a bad sign for New England,
shifting the center of gravity for the services business westward. Compaq has sent its
Littleton-based services chief Peter Mercury to speak in favor of the merger. But company
spokesmen said he wouldn't be available to discuss the merger's impact on New England.
Jeff Tarter, editor of Softletter, a services-oriented publication in Cambridge, says the new
personnel lineup could be a prelude to deep cuts locally. ''The rule of thumb is that the acquired
party is the one that suffers most of the layoffs,'' Tarter said. ''I'd expect the [former] DEC people
are going to get really walloped when the ax starts swinging.''
Judy Radlinsky, an HP spokeswoman, said the companies won't discuss integration details until
they have a formal merger approval from shareholders. Until then, planning is being done by about
1,200 managers drawn from both companies. These ''clean teams'' have been given access to what
would otherwise be proprietary information.
Some things, such as pricing details, can't be discussed between HP and Compaq representatives
under antitrust law, however, according to a March 26 company memo Radlinsky provided.
Written by two top integration managers, Webb McKinney of HP and Jeff Clarke of Compaq, the
memo states: ''Our intent is to announce decisions around job selection and reduction as soon as
we can. But those decisions and announcements will be driven by the strategies and operating plans
of each business.''
A few former DEC employees see some cause for optimism. They say HP's corporate culture
emphasizes engineering over marketing, and is therefore more akin to the old DEC than to the more
marketing-oriented Compaq.
''I would put the likelihood of a cultural fit being high,'' said Anne Kreidler, who left Digital in 1991
and now runs an employee-communications consulting business in Lincoln. But until top executives
provide more specifics, Kreidler said, local employees will remain nervous.
''Everyone's first question is, `What's going to happen to me?''' Kreidler said. ''Until that question is
answered, the other information is interesting and potentially useful. But it's secondary.''
Ross Kerber can be reached at kerber@globe.com.
This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 4/1/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company. |
