HP names new high-end server chief

Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday named Martin Fink as the new leader of its Itanium server group and expanded that group's role.

Fink previously led HP's NonStop group, which sells super-high-end machines, and its Open-Source and Linux Operation. Now that work has become part of the expanded Business Critical Systems (BCS) group, HP said.

Martin Fink

Fink replaces former BCS chief Rich Marcello, who is retiring to perform volunteer work.

Fink has spent the last 18 months bringing the NonStop group into alignment with BCS, whose hardware technology is now the basis of NonStop products. He said he has discussed the group's fate with Scott Stallard, who leads the Enterprise Storage and Servers group, of which BCS is a part.

"I don't think we need yet another hardware computer division in this company," Fink said he told Stallard. "So we said now is the right time to combine these things into one business unit."

The Linux and open-source work spans BCS, whose servers use the Itanium processor, and the Industry Standard Server group, which sells systems using x86 chips from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. HP decided to house the open-source group within BCS because much of the programming work that the company does in the area--such as supporting open-source software on Itanium servers or creating Linux version of reliability software--is done in conjunction with the higher-end servers, Fink said.