Can HP Build the Computer of the Future?

On June 11, Hewlett-Packard revealed plans to make a new kind of computer that it’s playfully calling The Machine. If HP can pull it off, it will mark a major rethinking of how computers are built. The design aims to combine huge advances in operating systems, memory, and data transfer technology to create a refrigerator-size computer able to store and analyze much of what an entire data center does today. Still years from the market, The Machine has become the talk of the industry, with rivals such as Dell mocking HP’s effort as “laughable” and other experts cheering on HP for trying something big and daring. “I think this is terrific,” says Greg Papadopoulos, a partner at venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates and a former computer architect at HP and Sun Microsystems. “This is new territory where people could get real benefits, and I hope they’re successful.”

It’s a funny thing to see technology zealots agog over the idea of a computer maker making a computer. Even just a decade ago, companies such as HP, Sun, IBM, and SGI regularly announced plans to tackle bold frontiers in computing, and they had the talent on hand to meld departmental innovations into a working whole; they produced every major piece of an industrial-strength computer, from chips and storage to networking and operating systems. These days, such ambition is rare. “If you want to really rethink computing architecture, we’re the only game in town now,” says Martin Fink, HP’s chief technology officer and director of HP Labs, who has bet his career that The Machine will be a hit rather than a costly anachronism.