Along with HP’s announcement that it would acquire enterprise software firm Autonomy for approximately $10 billion in cash, the company made several other announcements, including news that it had appointed a new Head of Enterprise Services.
Effective immediately, John Visentin will serve in the role of Executive Vice President of HP Enterprise Services. Visentin will be responsible for driving growth in HP Enterprise Services, which delivers technology infrastructure, applications and business services. He will become a member of the company’s Executive Council and report directly to Léo Apotheker, HP’s president and chief executive officer.
Visentin previously led HP Enterprise Services for the Americas. He replaces Tom Iannotti, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
The company also announced it would kill off its webOS, and TouchPad, effectively throwing in the towel and letting Apple win that battle, and also that it was considering a spinoff or a sale of its PC business.
One thing that many people outside of the enterprise software space don’t realize, is that Autonomy is a big player in the eDiscovery, information compliance, governance and management software space. In May the company announced it would acquire Iron Mountain’s digital division including archiving, eDiscovery, and online backup for $380 million in cash. The company offers many products ranging from eDiscovery solutions for enterprises and law firms, to a social media governance product designed to monitor, govern, and protect organizations with employees engaging on social media sites.
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In September 2010, HP announced it would acquire cybersecurity and compliance solutions provide ArcSight for $1.5 Billion in cash. HP also acquired Fortify Software, a San Mateo, CA based provider of products and services that help developers identify security flaws in software code, helping to make applications more secure. Also, don’t forget that HP spent $2.35 Billion in a bidding war with Dell to acquire storage vendor 3PAR.
