NEWTONVILLE, Mass.--Feb. 11, 2005-- In the wake of Carly Fiorina's monumental departure from Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday, Lyra Research analysts address the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for HP in commentary and in a new report, HP versus Dell: The Imaging Industry's Battle of the Decade. Looking beyond the public tug of war between HP's former CEO and its board of directors, Larry Jamieson, director of Lyra's Hard Copy Industry Advisory Service, emphasizes that printing and supplies remain the source of HP's profitability. Jamieson points to the opportunity present for a more strategic and aggressive alignment of business lines to expand the printer group's profitability throughout the PC and home-entertainment business units. He explains, "HP developed a strong and quite profitable print-system strategy, with a steady revenue stream from supplies. Regardless of what HP does at the corporate level, its core printer business will continue to remain aggressive." Jamieson also notes how the leadership change at HP is occurring at a time when HP faces its stiffest printer market competitor yet--Dell. In an upcoming report called HP versus Dell: The Imaging Industry's Battle of the Decade, Lyra President Charles LeCompte examines Dell's plan to apply its leading PC sales strategy to disrupt HP's stronghold on the printer market. Dell recently announced more than $1 billion in printing and imaging revenue for its fiscal 2005, ended January 28. Still, Dell's printer sales are still not even one-tenth of HP's shipments. In addition to examining the two firms' chances for success in the printer market based on quantitative financial data, the report evaluates Dell and HP in a qualitative way, looking specifically at six "battlefields" that will determine the outcome of this war: technology, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, supplies, and support.