Since it is not about the 3000, I marked it as off-topic.     Another sad day for HP.     -Craig        HP To Merge Or Close Sites, Adding To Savings   After last year's announcement of 15,300 job cuts, Hewlett-Packard says it will save more money by reducing the number of offices it has around the world.
  By Reuters ,  InformationWeek 
 -->July 7, 2006 
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=190300910 

       SAN FRANCISCO - Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's second-largest personal computer maker, said Thursday it would shrink its real estate portfolio, adding to savings from a 10 percent staff cut announced a year ago.
  The company said it had not yet determined how much money it may save from the four-year effort to merge several hundred properties into fewer main locations, close some sites that it owns and relinquish space in certain leased buildings. It also has not yet identified all of the sites to be closed.
  Hewlett-Packard of Palo Alto, California, said the move will allow it to make better use of its properties and reduce workplace services costs. HP will use some of the savings to add new features to its main offices and give them a "consistent look and feel."
  The savings will be in addition to the $1.9 billion that HP expects annually from eliminating 15,300 jobs, a spokeswoman said. Chief executive Mark Hurd, who took over in 2005 after the board ousted former CEO Carly Fiorina, is slashing costs to better compete with rivals including Dell Inc., the world's No. 1 PC maker, and Lenovo Group Ltd..
  Lenovo became the No. 3 vendor after buying International Business Machines Corp.'s PC business last year.
  HP last month said it would merge various functions including supply chain, logistics and order fulfillment with its PC, printer and server computer businesses.
  HP on Thursday said it plans to redesign some of its main offices and will add more up-to-date technology including Internet-based telephones, wireless networks and improved computer access in coffee, cafeteria and lounge areas.
  The real estate project follows HP's recent announcement to merge its 85 information technology data centers into six centers in three locations.
  Hewlett-Packard shares closed up 33 cents, or 1 percent, at $33.10 on the New York Stock Exchange and added 0.5 percent in after-hours trading. The stock had climbed about 13 percent this year compared with the 3.1 percent gain of the Merrill Lynch Technology 100 Index. (Additional Reporting by Robert MacMillan in New York)

 		
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