Vishal Sikka to join $50-bn Hewlett Packard as CTO

Mumbai: A week after Vishal Sikka left Infosys as MD & CEO over tussle with founders, a report on Friday claimed he is all set to join computer software and chip maker Hewlett Packard. "Sikka is most likely to join the $50-billion Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) IT company as chief technology officer (CTO)," a report in The Times of India said. 

Interestingly, days before Sikka stepped down, Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy had said Sikka was not fit for a CEO's role he was rather good for a chief technology officer's job at Infosys. Sikka had based his office as Infosys top boss in Palo Alto in California's Silicon Valley. The American multinational Heweltt Packard Enterprise is also headquartered in PA.

Meg Whitman is the present chairman of the computer software maker Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Whitman had unsuccessfully contested in the California gubernatorial race in 2010 on a Republican party ticket.

Sikka setting up his office in Silicon Valley was also seen as a bone of contention between founders and the board during the months long exchange of words. For Sikka, moving to HP will not be a big problem as he is already based there. Last year, the then chief technology officer Martin Fink left the company, since then the place has not been filled.

Before joining Infosys in August 2014, Sikka was working with Germany's SAP, an enterprise software company. Sikka holds a doctorate in artificial intelligence from Stanford, a qualification that makes him a top contender for the CTO's job.