HP Autonomy

HP Autonomy
Industry Information technology
Fate Acquired by Hewlett-Packard
Founded June 1996 (1996-06) (as Autonomy Corporation PLC)
Cambridge, England, U.K.
Founder Michael Richard Lynch
David Tabizel
Richard Gaunt
Headquarters Cambridge, United Kingdom
San Francisco, United States
Area served
 Global
Key people
 Robert Youngjohns (SVP & General Manager)
Products Big data analytics, information governance, data protection and digital marketing
Parent Hewlett-Packard Company
Website www.autonomy.com
Stereo image
Left frame 
Autonomy Corporation headquarters at Cambridge Business Park.

HP Autonomy, previously Autonomy Corporation PLC, is a multinational enterprise software company founded in Cambridge, United Kingdom in 1996.

Originally, the company specialised in analysis of large scale unstructured "big data", becoming the UK's largest and most successful[1] software business by 2010. It used a combination of technologies born out of research at the University of Cambridge and developed a variety of enterprise search and knowledge management applications using adaptive pattern recognition techniques centered on Bayesian inference in conjunction with traditional methods. It maintained an aggressively entrepreneurial marketing approach, and controls described as a "rod of iron", which was said to include zero tolerance and firing the weakest 5% of its sales force each quarter, while cosseting the best sales staff "like rock stars".[2]

Autonomy was acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HP) in October 2011. The deal valued Autonomy at $11.7 billion (£7.4 billion) with a premium of around 79% over market price that was widely criticized as "absurdly high", a "botched strategy shift" and a "chaotic" attempt to rapidly reposition HP and enhance earnings by expanding the high-margin software services sector.[1][3][4] Within a year, major culture clashes became apparent and HP had written off $8.8 billion of Autonomy's value.[2] HP claims this resulted from "accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures" by the previous management, who in turn accuse HP of a "textbook example of defensive stalling" [5]:6 to conceal evidence of its own prior knowledge and gross mismanagement and undermining of the company, noting public awareness since 2009 of its financial reporting issues[5]:3 and that even HP's CFO disagreed with the price paid.[2][5]:3–6 External observers generally state that only a small part of the write-off appears to be due to accounting mis-statements, and that HP had overpaid for businesses previously.[2][6]

HP recruited Robert Youngjohns, ex-Microsoft president of North America,[7] to take over HP Autonomy in September 2012, and since that time, has worked towards a turnaround through expanding its information management and analytics software business. Though the company is integrating into HP Software, Autonomy remains a singular operational business.[8]

In 2016, HP agreed to sell its Autonomy assets, as part of a wider deal, to the British software company Micro Focus.[9]

History

Inception and expansion

Autonomy was founded in Cambridge, England by Michael Lynch, David Tabizel and Richard Gaunt in 1996 as a spin-off from Cambridge Neurodynamics, a firm specializing in computer-based finger print recognition.[10][11]

Autonomy floated in 1998 on the NASDAQ exchange at a share price of approximately £0.30. At the height of the "dot com bubble", the peak share price was £30.[12]

December 2005: Autonomy acquired Verity, Inc., one of its main competitors, for approximately US$500 million.[13] In 2005 Autonomy also acquired Neurodynamics.[14]

May 2007: After exercising an option to buy a stake in technology start up Blinkx Inc, and combining it with its consumer division, Autonomy floated Blinkx on a valuation of $250 million.[15]

July 2007: Autonomy acquired Zantaz, an email archiving and litigation support company, for $375 million.[16]

October 2007: Autonomy acquired Meridio Holdings Ltd, a UK company based in Northern Ireland that specialised in Records Management software, for £20 million.[17]

28 May 2008: Kainos extended its partnership with Autonomy for high-end information processing and Information Risk Management (IRM) to deliver information governance solutions to its customer base.[18]

January 2009: Autonomy acquired Interwoven, a niche provider of enterprise content management software, for $775 million.[19] Interwoven became Autonomy Interwoven and Autonomy iManage.

In 2009 Paul Morland, a leading analyst, started raising concerns about Autonomy's exaggerated performance claims.[20][21]

June 2010: Autonomy announced that it was to acquire the Information Governance business of CA Technologies. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.[22]

5 May 2011: The Mercedes Formula One team announced an $8 million sponsorship deal with Autonomy, and on 8 July 2010 Tottenham Hotspur FC announced a two-year sponsorship deal with Autonomy for their Premier League kit.[23][24] For the 2011–12 season Spurs' Premier League shirt featured Autonomy's Augmented Reality technology Aurasma.[25]

16 May 2011: Autonomy acquired Iron Mountain Digital, a pioneer in E-discovery and online backup solutions provider, for $380 million from Iron Mountain Incorporated.[26]

Hewlett Packard

18 August 2011: Hewlett Packard announced that it would purchase Autonomy for US$42.11 per share. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both HP and Autonomy and the Autonomy board recommended that its shareholders accept the offer.[27] On 3 October 2011 HP closed the deal, announcing that it had acquired around 87.3% of the shares for around $10.2 billion, and valuing the company at around $11.7 billion in total.[28]

May 2012: Mike Lynch left his role as Autonomy CEO after a significant drop in revenue in the previous quarter.[29]

September 2012: Robert Youngjohns was appointed SVP & GM of Autonomy/Information Management Business Unit.[8]

November 2012: Hewlett-Packard announced that it was taking an $8.8 billion accounting charge after claiming "serious accounting improprieties" and "outright misrepresentations" at Autonomy;[30][31] its share price fell to a decades' low on the news.[32] However, Mike Lynch counter-alleged that the problems were due to HP's running of Autonomy,[33] citing "internecine warfare" within the organization.[34] The Serious Fraud Office (United Kingdom), and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission joined the FBI in investigating the potential anomalies. However, in January 2015 the SFO closed its investigation as the chance of successful prosecution was low.[35][36][37] Three lawsuits were brought by shareholders against HP, for the fall in value of HP shares. In August 2014 a United States district court judge threw out a proposed settlement, which Autonomy's previous management had argued would be collusive and intended to divert scrutiny of HP executives' own responsibility and knowledge, for a fee of up to $48 million.[38][39] As of 2014 the dispute is still being litigated.

Model of 2010 Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team car at the Cambridge Business Park Autonomy building lobby.

November 2013: the HP Exstream customer communication management (CCM) business, formerly part of the HP LaserJet and Enterprise Solutions (LES) business, joined the HP Autonomy organization.[40]

30 January 2014: the company announced that one of its partners, Kainos, integrated HP IDOL 10.5, the new version of HP Autonomy’s information analytics engine, into Kainos's electronic medical record platform, Evolve.[41]

31 October 2015: Autonomy's software products are divided between HP Inc (HPQ) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) as a result of the Hewlett-Packard Co separation. HP Inc is assigned ownership largely consisting of Autonomy's content management software components including TeamSite, Qfiniti, Qfiniti Managed Services, MediaBin, Optimost, and Explore. Hewlett Packard Enterprise retains ownership of the remaining software.[42]

2 May 2016: OpenText acquires HP TeamSite, HP MediaBin, HP Qfiniti, HP Explore, HP Aurasma, and HP Optimost from HP Inc for $170 million.[43]

Products and services

HP Autonomy products include Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL), which allows for search and processing of text taken from both structured data and unstructured human information—including e-mail and mobile data—whether it originates in a database, audio, video, text files or streams.[44] The processing of such information by IDOL is referred to by Autonomy as Meaning-Based Computing.[45]

HP Autonomy's offerings include:

Marketing Optimization
Web Experience Management, Web Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Marketing Analytics, Contact Center Management, Rich Media Management
Information Analytics
Voice of the Customer, Media Intelligence, Video Surveillance, Big Data Analytics, SFA Intelligence
Unified Information Access
Enterprise Search, Knowledge Management, Content Access & Extraction
Information Archiving
Compliance Archiving, Litigation Readiness Archiving, Storage Optimization Archiving, Database & Application Archiving, Supervision & Policy Management
eDiscovery
Legal Hold, Early Case Assessment, Review & Analytics, Investigations, Post-Review
Enterprise Content Management
Policy-driven Information Management, Records Management, Legal Content Management, Business Process Management, Document and Email Management
Data Protection
Server Data Protection, Virtual Server Data Protection, Remote & Branch Office Data Protection, Endpoint Device Data Protection
Customer Communications Management
Healthcare Communications, Transactional Communications, State, Local & Federal Communications, Utility & Smart Meter Communications, High Volume Communications

[46]

Automated Information Capture
Multichannel automated information capture:, Intelligent document recognition, Intelligent document classification, Remote capture, Validation[47]
Haven OnDemand

The API platform for building data rich applications.[48] Haven OnDemanduk features a wide range of APIs for indexing and performing analytics on a range of information from plain text and office documents through to audio and video.

Haven Search OnDemand

A ease to use and quick to deploy Enterprise Search solution built onto of the Haven OnDemand API Platform.[49]

HAVEn Big Data Platform

In June 2013, HP announced the HAVEn platform for analyzing and finding meaning from big data - petabytes of structured and unstructured information. HAVEn also aims to identify information that is not needed and can be placed in low cost storage or even dumped.[50]

Components of the platform include:

In January 2014, HP released a new version of HP IDOL that strengthens integration with several key components of the HAVEn platform by expanding upon IDOL’s analytics, reliability and ease of use.[52] CMSWire reported that the new release has "a lot under the hood here that will catapult IDOL firmly into the center of the big data fray."[53]

Offices

The HP Autonomy business has primary offices in Cambridge and Sunnyvale, California, as well as other major offices in the UK, the US, Canada, France, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Germany, and smaller offices in India and throughout Europe and Latin America.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Autonomy board backs £7bn Hewlett-Packard offer, The Telegraph, 19 August 2011
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rage of the Titans: Whitman vs Lynch, The Telegraph, 25 November 2012
  3. ↑ HP closes Autonomy deal, Reuters, 2011-11-03: "Hewlett-Packard completed its $12 billion buy of British software firm Autonomy on Monday, the centerpiece of a botched strategy shift that cost ex-chief executive Leo Apotheker his job last month. HP said its 25.50 pounds-per-share cash offer -- representing a 79 percent premium that many HP shareholders found excessive -- had been accepted by investors."
  4. ↑ Why Hewlett-Packard's Impulse Buy Didn't Pay Off, Bloomberg BusinessWeek 29 November 2012: "Apotheker believed that HP’s platform was sinking...[and] appeared to be in a hurry to transform the company... In a rapid series of moves announced in August 2011, Apotheker killed HP’s six-week-old TouchPad tablet, explored plans for a spin-out of its PC business, and championed the $10.3 billion acquisition of [] Autonomy. One former HP executive who worked there at the time says it appeared that Apotheker and the board didn’t know what to do, and were trying anything they could think of. It wasn’t a strategy, he says. It was chaos... Oracle CEO Larry Ellison called Autonomy’s asking price 'absurdly high'."
  5. 1 2 3 Motion by Hussain, 2014-08-11 p.1-6
  6. ↑ The mysterious case of Hewlett-Packard’s Autonomy deal, Marketwatch, 19 August 2014
  7. ↑ "HP® Official Site - Laptop Computers, Desktops, Printers and more". Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  8. 1 2 "HP Names Microsoft Exec Robert Youngjohns to Run Autonomy". Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  9. ↑ "Micro Focus - from takeover target to FTSE 100 newcomer - BBC News". Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  10. ↑ Security Group Seminar University of Cambridge
  11. ↑ The Kindness of Strangers VNU Net
  12. ↑ Loney, Matt (13 November 2008). ""What that £10k is worth now", 31st Dec 2001, zdnet.co.uk". News.zdnet.co.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  13. ↑ ""Autonomy buys Verity", Information World Review". Iwr.co.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  14. ↑ "Autonomy's Board of Directors". Autonomy.
  15. ↑ 22 May 2007 by Pete Cashmore View Comments (22 May 2007). "Blinkx IPO goes ahead". Mashable.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  16. ↑ "Autonomy buys Zantaz". Law.com. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  17. ↑ "Data Backup and Information Governance Software Solutions - Hewlett Packard Enterprise". Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  18. ↑ "Kainos Embraces Additional Autonomy Group Technology". Kainos Software Limited. 28 May 2008. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  19. ↑ Davey, James (22 January 2009). "Autonomy to buy Interwoven for $775 mln". Reuters. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  20. ↑ Garside, Juliette (22 November 2012). "UBS and Goldman Sachs had access to negative Autonomy research". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  21. ↑ "Analysts warned that UK software giant Autonomy's finances were 'questionable' three years before disastrous Hewlett Packard deal". This is Money. 21 November 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  22. ↑ Autonomy to Acquire CA's Information Governance Business News article from InfoGrok
  23. ↑ "Mercedes GP Petronas announce Autonomy sponsorship deal". Mercedes Benz.
  24. ↑ "Tottenham reveal new pounds 20m shirt sponsors". The Daily Mail. UK. 8 July 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  25. ↑ "Tottenham Hotspur shirts to feature Autonomy's Aurasma". Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
  26. ↑ Autonomy buys Iron Mountain's digital archiving outfit Guardian, 16 May 2011
  27. ↑ HP to acquire Autonomy HP Newsroom, 18 August 2011
  28. ↑ "Hewlett-Packard completes Autonomy buyout". BBC News. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  29. ↑ HP Autonomy co-founder Mike Lynch replaced Slashgear, 23 May 2012
  30. ↑ H.P. Takes Big Hit on ‘Accounting Improprieties’ at Autonomy NY Times, 20 November 2012
  31. ↑ "BBC News - Autonomy misled HP about finances, Hewlett Packard says". BBC Online. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2012. Computer maker Hewlett Packard has asked US and UK authorities to investigate alleged misrepresentations of Autonomy's finances before HP took over the UK software group last year.
  32. ↑ James Rogers (24 November 2012), "HP's Autonomy Hassles", thestreet.com, United States: TheStreet, Tech, retrieved 22 January 2013
  33. ↑ Mike Lynch defends Autonomy accounting methods The Telegraph, 21 November 2012
  34. ↑ Autonomy’s Ex-Chief: H.P.’s Claims ‘Completely and Utterly Wrong’ Dealbook, 21 November 2012
  35. ↑ Autonomy misled HP about finances, Hewlett Packard says, United Kingdom: BBC News, 21 November 2012, bbc.co.uk, retrieved 22 January 2013
  36. ↑ Jeremy C. Owens (23 November 2012), "Investors go Black Friday shopping too, sending HP and other struggling tech stocks higher", San Jose Mercury News, mercurynews.com, retrieved 22 January 2013
  37. ↑ "Autonomy HP sale investigation by Serious Fraud Office closes". BBC News. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  38. ↑ "U.S. judge casts doubt on HP-shareholder settlement in Autonomy lawsuit". 25 August 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2016 – via Reuters.
  39. ↑ "Today's Stock Market News and Analysis from Nasdaq.com". Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  40. ↑ "HP Exstream & Autonomy". HP.
  41. ↑ "Kainos Harnesses HP IDOL for Next-generation Healthcare Analytics". HP Autonomy. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  42. ↑ "Exstream, TeleForm, LiquidOffice, TeamSite, Qfiniti, Optimost, and MediaBin are now part of OpenText". Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  43. ↑ "News and Press Releases (PR) - OpenText". Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  44. ↑ "HP's Autonomy Debuts End-to-End eDiscovery Solution, Appliance". Infostor.com. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  45. ↑ "What is meaning-based computing". Computing.co.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  46. ↑ "AU/: Stock Quote - Autonomy Corp Ltd". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  47. ↑ HP Teleform - HP Autonomy, retrieved 2014-08-01
  48. ↑ Haven OnDemand, retrieved 2015-12-01
  49. ↑ Haven Search OnDemand, retrieved 2016-02-11
  50. ↑ David Roe. "HP Ups Big Data Play with HAVEn, Releases Autonomy Data Clean-up #HPDiscover". Cmswire.com. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  51. ↑ "HAVEn: The HP platform for Big Data (Solution brief/4AA4-7102ENW.pdf)". H20195.www2.hp.com. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
  52. ↑ "HP Strengthens HAVEn Big Data Platform to Power New Class of Human Information Applications | HP Autonomy". Autonomy.com. 2014-01-30. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
  53. ↑ David Roe. "HP Autonomy Upgrade Gives IDOL Big Data Muscle". Cmswire.com. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
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