It will lay off 9,000 workers over a multiyear period while moving toward automation at its commercial data centers, U. S. technology giant has said Hewlett Packard.

It would spend $1 billion upgrading its information technology centers and phase out the jobs as the new systems go on line, the company further said.

Tom Iannotti, senior vice president and general manager of HP Enterprise Services, said, "Over the past 20 months, we focused on integrating Electronic Data Systems and improving profitability."

Iannotti said in a statement, "Now that the integration is largely complete, we have identified significant opportunities to grow and scale the business."

It was reported that HP did not specify a schedule for the layoffs but said they would be accomplished "over a multiyear period."

HP further said that in time, the changes are expected to save $1 billion a year. (With Inputs from Agencies)