Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ) decision to name former SAP CEO Léo Apotheker as its new CEO and president is drawing surprised reactions and some consternation. Adding to the drama, HP simultaneously named former Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) president Ray Lane to its board of directors, just weeks after Oracle hired ex HP CEO Mark Hurd--who was ousted in August amid an ethics scandal--as its co-president. Follow that?

In some ways, the hiring of Apotheker appears quite logical. SAP's software and HP's offerings work in close proximity, and the two companies have many of the same large enterprise customers. Meanwhile, all of the mega IT vendors are racing to outdo each other in offering complete enterprise packages of integrated hardware and software. By hiring the ex SAP executive--who was driven out of that job in February--HP may be positioning itself to acquire SAP and thereby compete more directly with Oracle, writes Larry Dignan at ZDNet.  

HP and SAP share an enemy in the form of Oracle. "Meanwhile, HP has the resources to acquire SAP," Dignan writes. "And SAP's ownership of Sybase plays well with the enterprise mobility theme HP has been targeting via the acquisition of Palm."

Companies tend to be more deeply invested in software than in hardware or services, notes PCWorld's Tony Bradley, and by putting a software maven in charge, HP positions itself as a "solutions" provider, competing directly with IBM (NYSE: IBM) as well as Oracle. Some analysts see the move as a sensible next step following HP's acquisition of EDS, which gave the company a leg up in the IT-services market.

The drama is sure to intensify as the industry continues to consolidate. As CNET's Erica Ogg put it, HP's simultaneous hiring of Apotheker and Lane on the heels of Oracle's hiring of Hurd should generate some buzz: "Indeed, that Hurd was quickly snapped up by Oracle to be its co-president makes this one of the oddest and most theatrical games of executive musical chairs ever to hit Silicon Valley."

For more:
- see Hewlett Packard's announcement
- see Larry Dignan's post at ZDNet
- see Tony Bradley's article at PCWorld
- see Erica Ogg's post at CNET

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