Hewlett-Packard Co and Philips Medical Systems International have signed a non-binding letter of intent to explore co-operation at a technical and operational level in various areas of medical technology: in November, the two announced an agreement to integrate Philips’ cardiac imaging systems and Hewlett-Packard physiological monitoring equipment, and based on that experience, the two have decided to explore other ways in which they could benefit from co-ordinating complementary technical and operational strengths; both are relatively small and Philips came close to combining its medical electronics arm with that of GEC Plc three years ago, so merger into a jointly-owned company could be on the cards at some stage in the future.
