Fink has been the driving force behind The Machine, HPE's ambitious project to design a new type of computer that uses memristors and silicon photonics to break down traditional tiers of memory and storage. So it was unsurprising that HPE was quick to say Monday that the project is still moving ahead.
"Our plans to preview The Machine prototype by the end of this year remain on track," the company said.
Spinning off the enterprise services business, which will merge with CSC to form a new company part-owned by HPE, provided "a unique opportunity for us to reimagine our internal organization," Whitman said in a blog post explaining the latest reorg.
Fink has been at HP more than 30 years and is also head of HP Labs. When he leaves, HP Labs will be merged into HPE's enterprise group under current leader Antonio Neri.
The move will reduce the time it takes to get technologies from research into commercialization, HPE said, but it may also raise questions about the breadth of research HP Labs will continue to pursue.
The company is also collapsing its sales teams into a single worldwide organization, centralizing product marketing, e-commerce, and "customer advocacy" under one executive and putting its IT and cyber security teams under its chief operating officer.
John Hinshaw, HPE's chief customer officer, will also leave at the end of the year.
"We’re living in a world where continuous improvement is essential to long-term success," Whitman said.
She didn't say if more layoffs would follow as a result of the changes.