Nora Denzel, senior vice president and general manager of the company's Software Global Business Unit, has been at HP since 2000. She will be replaced temporarily by Todd DeLaughter, senior vice president and general manager of HP's OpenView Business Unit, according to HP spokeswoman Stacey Hoskin. Denzel was not accepting questions from reporters, and HP had no further explanation for her departure.

Denzel's responsibilities have included oversight of OpenView and OpenCall, HP software that is used by telecommunications service providers.

Hoskin said HP's software business is "healthy" and was profitable for the 2005 fiscal year. Revenues for the unit Denzel oversaw topped US$1 billion in 2005, according to analysts and financial records. HP's OpenView software, which is focused on systems management for large enterprises, competes against software from IBM Tivoli, BMC Corp. and Computer Associates International Inc., as well as numerous smaller companies.

Two HP software employees who asked not be named described Denzel's departure as disturbing, coming in the wake of recent layoffs at the company and other executive departures this year.

Rich Ptak, an analyst at Ptak Noel & Associates in Amherst, N.H., said Denzel's departure is surprising. But he added that Denzel had been expected to leave the company shortly after HP CEO Carly Fiorina left in February, as Denzel was "clearly part of Carly's circle."