Lampman to leave HP Labs next year

Lampman has been in charge of HP's advanced research group since 1999. He has been part of HP Labs in various capacities since 1981, after joining the company in 1971, HP said in a press release.

Dick Lampman

The highest-profile--or perhaps most notorious--project born from Lampman's efforts was the Itanium processor, once envisioned as a powerful path to 64-bit computing but now mostly relevant as a replacement for the PA-RISC and Alpha processors used in HP's high-end servers. HP co-developed Itanium with Intel, but it has since handed off virtually all the future design and development to the chip specialist.

Lampman also made an integral contribution to HP's work to define utility computing, a company representative said. This project was brought to light through the company's Adaptive Enterprise campaign. Lampman also oversaw much of HP's work in recent years on nanotechnology and advanced transistor research.

He will remain at his post while a replacement is found and will remain for a short while after a hiring to help with the transition, the HP representative said.

When Lampman joined HP Labs, it was considered the destination of choice for smart, enterprising engineers in Northern California. But those days have passed, as companies like Google have emerged, and HP Labs, which turned 40 years old this year, doesn't have quite the same stature it once held within the technology community.