Hewlett-Packard Co. has announced it will consolidate 85 data centers worldwide into six larger centers in the United States. This plan will help reduce information technology spending by approximately $1 billion. The released statement from HP did not say if the consolidation would affect their work force.
The new larger centers will be located in Atlanta, Houston and Austin with two in each city. The centers will be used for HP's internal requirements and will be designed so they can be managed remotely. The sites were chosen based on the costs of the space, the available power and network connections, as well as lower vulnerability to natural disasters, the company announced.
HP has beaten analysts' projections in each quarter since the new CEO Mark Hurd took over on April 1 of 2005. The company posted a 51% jump in profit for the second quarter of 2006, out pacing chief-competitor Dell.