HP - Components of Computing

[Office Automation] [Mobile Computing] [Home Computing] [Network Equipment] [Retail Products]

The Components of Computing

From the global office to the home office: electronic components for business computing

Founded in 1961, the Components Group of Hewlett-Packard began by supplying high-performance electro-optical components both to HP’s manufacturing operations and to outside users. Since then, its charter has been expanded to supply components that improve the performance of equipment for office automation, the home office, networking and retail applications. With the development of portable and mobile computing and communications equipment— making the “mobile office” capable of virtually every function of the conventional office—HP’s Components Group has been devoting its resources to developing the key components needed for these applications as well.

Performance in office automation

For office automation equipment—whether fixed or mobile—such as personal computers, printers, fax machines, image scanners, network servers, mainframe and mid-sized computers, copiers and plotters, HP components offer extremely high performance. Products range from motion control sensors that accurately determine the position of printheads and scan heads to fiber-optic transmission components for local-area network backbones; from infrared transceivers to reliable light-emitting diode (LED) displays and indicators.

Longer battery life for the mobile professional

For mobile equipment, such as notebook computers, personal digital assistants, cellular phones, pagers and digital cameras, HP components help reduce power consumption through high-efficiency and low-voltage operation. Component products include infrared transmit/receive modules that meet Infrared Data Association (IrDA) standards and a wide variety of low-voltage, low-power-consumption radio frequency transistors, diodes and integrated circuits for wireless communications.

Flexibility for the home office

HP components make possible the broadest sense of the “home office,” integrating multimedia personal computers with scanners, FAX, printers, CD-ROMs, security and home automation, answering machines, modems, cordless phones—even television set-top boxes. Components range from protective optocouplers in modems to low-cost fiber optic and cableless infrared link components to provide the communications links needed to integrate home systems. HP’s LED products help the readability of control panels both by providing backlighting for panel legends and liquid-crystal displays, and by providing direct-reading numeric and alphanumeric displays in a variety of sizes, colors and brightness levels.

Speed for networking

HP components—including LED indicators, fiber-optic ports and transceivers, and point-and-shoot infrared transceivers used as part of a “cableless” interface—are found throughout “wired” networks today, while components such as infrared emitters and transceivers, radio-frequency integrated circuits, transistors and diodes are key elements in wireless networking. HP components meet most of today’s high-speed networking standards, and products are being developed to keep pace with the need for even faster data transfer and distribution.

Reliability for retail and point of sale.

Virtually every retail system must be dependable and trouble-free—a feature of all HP components. We offer reliable bar code components to enable manufacturers to incorporate exceptional performance features in their designs. We also supply the RF diodes, integrated circuits and transistors that make wireless “smart cards” for area access and data collection possible, as well as the low-cost components that make reliable, high-speed data transfer an economic reality.

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