Hewlett-Packard moving out of Palo Alto

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KTVU) - It was one of the original Silicon Valley companies. Now Hewlett-Packard Enterprises is packing up and moving out of Palo Alto.

CEO Meg Whitman says it's part of becoming a "simpler, nimbler, more focused company."

Tech experts call it the end of an era.

"It's a big deal because they're really the iconic Silicon Valley firm. There were the early chip companies, but HP really put Silicon Valley on the map," David Needle, contributor for Eweek said,

But Palo Alto's loss, will be other cities' gain.

HP Enterprise will now take up residence in Milpitas, San Jose, and Santa Clara where it will put its corporate headquarters.

The plan is to "move in" with Aruba Networks, a company they recently acquired.

"I think the move really indicates that the center of gravity is moving south. And the city of Santa Clara is in the middle of all the things that are happening," Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor said.

While the Santa Clara will get the headquarters. San Jose will apparently get the larger facility, with hundreds of workers moving in. They'll join a growing number of tech companies, like Google, Adobe and Microsoft, that are choosing the South Bay for expansion.

"I think they're taking a close look at the zip codes of their employees and recognizing overwhelmingly those residents are living in the South Bay. And they want to be closer to where their workers are,’ San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said,

Their workers have been in Palo Alto since the 1930s, when Hewlett Packard started in a now-iconic garage.

Two years ago, the company spun off its computer and printer business which will not be part of the move.

But experts call this departure, a changing of the guard.

"I'm going to be super interested to see who moves in there," Needle said. "They're still going to have a presence here but it's a big deal to not have them in Palo Alto where it all began."

Hewlett Packard Enterprise plans to sell their current facility. And expects the move to be the complete by the end of 2018.