The Wall Street Journal: H-P Aims to Become Big Services Player
Posted by Ben Worthen
H-P has been trying to boost its services business for years. The expected acquisition of outsourcing giant EDS could do that in a big way.
Businesses are increasingly turning to outside firms to provide information-technology work anything from software development and management to running a data center. There are two interrelated reasons for this: Most businesses realize that they dont gain a competitive advantage from, say, monitoring their corporate network, and its cheaper to have someone who monitors 100 networks do it than to do it themselves.
Tech companies, of course, see dollar signs. IBM the industrys 400 pound gorilla now derives more than half of its revenue from services. Only $16.6 billion of H-Ps $104 billion in its 2007 fiscal year came from services, however. EDS has revenue around $20 billion a year and has a roster of giant clients including General Motors and Royal Dutch Shell. EDS typically does higher-end (and hence higher-margin) work for these customers like designing the systems that are used for product development and manufacturing, in addition to managing mainframe computers and other tech infrastructure.
One other note: EDS isnt exactly an avant-garde choice. Its often held up as the epitome of the old model of outsourcing, where an army of contractors would come to the client. Nowadays, the race is on to perform tech services in countries like India and China where the people cost less. (EDS has been aggressively globalizing, too of course.) Usually this saves customers money; it definitely helps the service providers margins. It will be interesting to see how H-P expands EDSs global operation over the next several years.
Still, buying EDS instantly would make H-Ps services business bigger than Accenture, which had revenue of $21 billion in 2007. And while that isnt quite nipping at the heels of IBMs services group, which had revenue of $54 billion in 2007, H-Ps looking to be a lot more of a competitor than it looked like yesterday.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
