Fiorina: HP wants to <BR>warm up the Web

LAS VEGAS -- Hewlett-Packard Co.'s president and CEO is on a mission to transform the Net from a distant, cold, alien place to one that's warm, friendly and personal.

At the center of that strategy is e-services, HP's massive plan to "make the Web work for you" by enabling automatic brokering of Web-based services.

In a keynote address here Monday morning at Comdex, Carly Fiorina described a world in which every appliance or device that has a microprocessor will also have an IP address and speak to every other connected appliance or device.

"This is the end of the pure product era," Fiorina said. "It's happening everywhere. Companies will think hard about how to make money with e-services."

In one example, Fiorina described a person setting a networked alarm clock to go off at 5:30 a.m., mindful that traffic snarls could cut into an early meeting. Early in the morning, the clock seeks out the local traffic report, sees that there is minimal traffic and automatically resets the alarm clock for 6:00. In another example, a person wearing a Web-based Swatch is alerted to the latest release from a favorite rock band. Fiorina didn't have any details but announced that Swatch will build such e-services based on e-speak, HP's technology for creating a new breed of intelligent services and appliances.

"Revenue streams for HP and other companies will come from wrapping services around products," she said.

	ZDTV VIDEO:
		See the keynote Webcast

"We are committed to freeing our intellectual property from the labs," she said.

To drive home the point, she showed off a new company logo with the word "invent" underneath the HP brand.

"The challenge is in re-igniting our spirit," Fiorina stated. "For a while we stopped talking about [our technology]. But we will return to the best part of ourselves."