HP

Features

• Tablets: iPad 2 vs. Xoom vs. PlayBook vs. WebOS slates

  It may seem like 2010 was the year of the tablet, but the reality is that 2010 was really just the year of the iPad with 15 million units sold and no real competitors for the Apple tablet. However, 2011 will be very different with a diverse variety of tablet options emerging--including some particularly relevant entries from major players.

• More WebOS rumors: What we know so far

  The leaked details on HP and Palm's WebOS tablet keep on coming, though HP has said we haven't seen everything yet.

• Tablet revolution reality check

  With so much chatter about tablets this year, you might think that the handheld, rectangular devices being unveiled represent a significant innovation. The reality is that so much of what we're seeing is not a whole lot different than what we saw in previous years; these products offer only a few new twists. But those new twists could make the difference between tablets' remaining a niche item and their finally busting out to the mass market in a meaningful way.

• How HP and Palm's WebOS tablet could 'blow away' iPad

  We haven't seen HP hype a tablet since last year's flirtation with Windows 7, but that could change after February 9, when the company has all but confirmed that it will introduce its first WebOS tablet.

• Print: the last bastion of cost cutting?

  Print management services provide a major opportunity for CIOs to slash cost at their organisation according to Andrew Rowsell-Jones, research vice president at Gartner’s CIO Research Group.

• The Fine Print(ing)

  CIOs are finding that getting printing under control not only saves money, it opens the door to thinking about their printing requirements more strategically

• Slideshow: Verb IT first with HP Performance Optimised Datacentre (POD)

  Sydney-based Verb IT is the first company in the Asia Pacific region to provision an HP Performance Optimised Datacentre (POD) next-generation data centre in a shipping container. The new Verb DC site where the POD is located is a standard industrial warehouse in Wyong on the NSW Central Coast (one hour north of Sydney). Verb DC is schedueld to go live in September after a 14-week project, including the POD delivery time. In what is being painted as a big win for the Central Coast IT industry, the new POD will provide computing services to local businesses and the world.

• Did HP board have hidden agenda in removing Hurd?

  By now everyone knows that HP CEO Mark Hurd was forced to resign following an investigation into an alleged sexual harassment scandal.

• Five reasons HP 'Hurricane' can compete with iPad

  Rumor has it that the Windows 7-based HP Slate tablet PC is dead, but that HP has plans to leverage its purchase of Palm to develop a new WebOS-based tablet currently codenamed "Hurricane".

• HP-Palm deal: 5 things I hope It brings

  Hewlett-Packard just raised the ante in the smartphone wars by purchasing Palm, bringing to the table its standing as the world's largest PC maker and potentially bringing on a new era of WebOS devices. The future is still cloudy for the union of the ailing Palm and the mighty HP, but here are five ways HP can make the best of its $1.2 billion buy:

• A brief history of Palm

  With iPhones and BlackBerrys everywhere, and Google Android devices on the rise, it's easy to forget that Palm was the company that made it all happen.

• HP sets sights on Cisco in networking battle

  It was nearly an hour into the opening keynotes at the Americas Partner Summit on Monday until a Hewlett Packard executive finally used the C-word: Cisco. But the one-time networking partner was certainty front of mind though as HP re-affirmed its commitment to become the leader in every business segment it competes in including networking.

• Special report: Emerging IEEE Ethernet standards could soothe data center headaches

  Cisco, HP and others are waging an epic battle to gain control of the data center, but at the same time they are joining forces to push through new Ethernet standards that could greatly ease management of those increasingly virtualized IT nerve centers.

• Analysis: Would you like a data center with that server?

  Faced with the continued commoditization of servers, IT vendors this year will try to differentiate their offerings by moving toward more highly integrated, unified compute platforms.

• Quiz: What were the first products from today's biggest tech companies?

  Cisco, Microsoft, IBM: They all started somewhere. Take this quiz to see how well you know the humble origins of today's tech titans