Tom and Carly: Chief-to-Chief

ho does the manager of the biggest government merger in half a century call when he needs advice? The manager of one of the biggest corporate mergers in U.S. history, of course.

Carly Fiorina, the chief of hardware giant Hewlett-Packard, has been keeping company of late with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, according to several HP executives. Among the topics of discussion is what the government can learn from HP's melding of 150,000 employees and dozens of business units after its $19 billion merger with computer maker Compaq last year.

Fiorina has first-hand experience with one of the biggest issues Ridge is grappling with now: how to bring tens of thousands of people under one roof without bringing down the house. She is sharing her experiences with the newest Cabinet secretary on a regular basis, and has become HP's "greatest ambassador" to Homeland Security, says William Mutell, the company's vice president of corporate strategy.

But the talk isn't all corporate diplomacy. Fiorina and her crew are familiar with the technological hurdles of mega-mergers. Administration officials have toiled for more than a year now figuring out how to tie together nearly two dozen security agencies' vast technological arsenals. HP is making a play to be the department's integrator of choice when the time comes to lash the systems into place.

That's a new role for a company known for selling computers and printers. But HP is refashioning itself as a high-level consultant, and executives have been making the rounds with officials at many federal agencies, picking their brains in the manner of the Ridge-Fiorina tête-à-têtes.

Traditional integrators such as Lockheed Martin and big tech consultants such as Accenture might find HP's move unusual, given its lack of experience in these areas. But no matter, Mutell says. The company has already sized up the major players in the industry and is determining how to add them to HP's "constellations" of strategic partnerships.

Mutell is no stranger to the machinations of the federal government. He served as an Army intelligence officer and worked at agencies for nearly a quarter century. And his boss is one of the most government-seasoned of America's major CEOs. Fiorina cut her executive teeth working in the federal division of AT&T.