Autonomy: Mixed Signals from HP in December 2013
January 7, 2014
Before I headed south for a couple of weeks where the sun shines, I read “HP Software Chief: Big Data Role Gives Autonomy a Boost.” After I read the story, I thought, “Maybe HP is going to hunker down and make Autonomy sales.” The story, which I assume is spot on, stated:
HP Software executive vice-president George Kadifa, who is also a member of the company’s executive council, says big-data analytics firm Autonomy is bouncing back from the controversy that followed the $11bn (£7bn) takeover by HP in August 2011.
There was a quote, which I assume is accurate:
“We’re doing great with Autonomy. Clearly, a year ago it was quite problematic — between disclosures about accounting issues and stuff like that,” Kadifa, [HP executive vice president] said.
I assume that HP knows that Longsand Limited, an Autonomy property that is now HP’s had a fellow named Sergio Erik Letelier, a lawyer, on the Longsand board of directors. See http://bit.ly/1eiFW1b. With this link, is it possible that HP has a way to get some useful insight into Autonomy?
Upon my return from sunny climes, I was catching up with my Overflight summaries and noted, “HP Axes Autonomy Cambridge Jobs.” According to the story in Business Weekly:
HP has categorically denied that it is making staff at Autonomy Cambridge redundant and considering closing its operations in the UK technology cluster. It says it is actively hiring more staff and upgrading the Cambridge Business Park premises. Autonomy and Aurasma staff began quitting the businesses after Mike Lynch departed. According to informed sources, the exodus reflected general disgruntlement at the bureaucratic way the US giant was trying to run the companies following its mega-billion takeover. The demise of one of Cambridge’s great technology success stories is particularly sad as Lynch had built it into the second biggest tech business in the cluster’s history behind ARM.
I find the flow of information about HP and Autonomy fascinating. With Silicon Valley struggling to capture super bright technology wizards, my thought is that HP might want to leverage Mr. Kadifa’s apparent upbeat view of Autonomy in Cambridge. There are some bright folks in the part of the world. A few of them have the math skills to exploit the Bayes, Shannon, Moore-Penrose, and the Volterra method. A happy Cambridge business community may help cultivate a productive source of new hires for HP in my view.
My question, “Which is it? Autonomy a success or a disappointment? Which is it: staff additions or staff reductions in the shadow of Cambridge University?
Autonomy remains a focal point for search and content processing. Interesting stuff.
Stephen E Arnold, January 7, 2014
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