In Pictures: Top 25 network and IT industry stories of 2012

HP makes deep cuts

HP CEO Meg Whitman inherited some pretty big messes last year, and one painful move she made in 2012 to clean things up was announcing that the company would whack 8% of its workforce via layoffs and retirement offers, which translates into about 27,000 jobs. The company, which is focusing heavily on the cloud now, expects the cuts to save it $3 billion to $3.5 billion in fiscal year 2014. The job cuts are "difficult" but they also are "necessary to improve execution and to fund long-term health" of HP, said Whitman, who has also shared uninspiring near-term earnings projections for the company. On the bright side, IT jobs have seen modest growth through October, according to trade group TechServe Alliance.