recently unveiled its multiyear plan to assimilate its purchase of IT outsourcing powerhouse EDS, which involves 250 integration projects, nearly 10,000 integration milestones and the elimination 24,600 jobs. The moves, HP Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd says, will save the combined company US$1.8 billion.

But what does it mean for customers of HP, EDS-or both?

Most layoffs will occur in EDS support positions, not customer-facing roles, the company claims. "The main concern for potential customers is whether an announcement like this will have a chilling effect on the workforce that would normally transfer from the customer to the provider," says Edward Hansen, a partner in the business and finance practice of Morgan Lewis & Bockius.

As a result, "Many clients will be asked to accept changes to elements of their service, be it personnel or delivery location, advises Mark Robinson, an executive director of outsourcing consultancy EquaTerra. "They should be mindful of the contractual protections they have that will allow them to remain in control."

Only time will tell if HP can successfully sync these two distinct corporate cultures. "With some 30-plus acquisitions under its belt in the past three years, HP is treading on familiar ground," says John Madden, research director for IT consultancy Ovum. But "it will take six to nine months for the first real signs of progress from the integration to emerge."