Nine months into the merger, how have customers benefited from the Compaq acquisition?
First, customers saw the value in bringing the two companies together almost before any other constituent. In other words, a lot of them understood fundamental changes in the technology business and they saw the logic in consolidation. In one fell swoop it gave them a very strong portfolio [of products] and a genuine competitor to IBM. And I think we have not disappointed them. The other thing they looked for in the first nine months is: Did we bring the product road maps together and did we stay close to the customers? We’ve earned very high praise for the manner in which we did this. That’s really the story behind the last nine months, just extraordinarily good execution and staying very close to the customer. How has the merger changed things for your major accounts specifically? I think what we have brought to those customers is a strong alternative to IBM right across the technology and service spectrum. Both premerger companies were strong, but didn’t have the breadth of portfoli
