It's the end of the road for Electronic Data Systems Corp., the company that launched the information technology outsourcing industry.
Hewlett-Packard Co. said Wednesday that it is renaming Plano-based EDS, which it bought last year for $13.9 billion, to HP Enterprise Services.
But HP officials said the name change doesn't mean the beginning of another round of job cuts or salary reductions.
"Nothing operationally changes between yesterday and today," said David Gee, vice president of worldwide marketing for the new HP Enterprise Services.
HP has eliminated nearly 25,000 jobs at EDS and cut salaries several times since the deal was finalized.
The most visible changes Wednesday were at EDS' main campus in Plano.
Tuesday night, workers swapped out almost all signs, flags and paraphernalia bearing the previous brand name with HP Enterprise Services signs and gear.
Other locations will take longer to make the name switch, particularly in countries where the EDS-HP deal is not yet finalized because of legal or regulatory issues.
Gee said HP made the change because that's what clients wanted.
"I've talked to probably more than 100 clients personally about what our options are: Do we keep the EDS name? Do we sunset it? Here are some alternatives that we could name the business going forward," Gee said.
"Universally, what the client community told us is that 'we want you to show up as HP.' That was across the board."
Analysts had speculated from the beginning that HP might quickly retire the EDS brand.
Although it's not a surprise, the change does mark the final chapter for the independent company that Ross Perot created in 1962. EDS kicked off a new industry of specialized companies helping corporate clients and government agencies manage their IT departments.
Perot's follow-up company, Perot Systems Corp., founded in 1988, said this week that it is being bought by Dell Inc. for $3.9 billion.
Perot declined to comment Wednesday on the HP renaming.
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