Microsoft and HP partner for enterprise collaboration

 

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By Matt Whipp

Posted on 14 Dec 2006 at 11:58

Microsoft and HP have announced a partnership that will see a $300m, three-year investment, aimed at winning big customers.

As part of the project, HP becomes Microsoft's first 'premier global partner' for its People-Ready Business, and together they will develop enterprise class systems in high growth areas: messaging and unified communications; collaboration and content management; business intelligence; business process integration; and core infrastructure.

Microsoft will carve out a dedicated Microsoft Solutions Practice, with the aim of developing a product portfolio geared around these sectors.

HP will add its hardware and services offerings. It will focus 22,000, growing to 30,000, of its employees on the Microsoft project and will set up a Solutions for a People-Ready Business Training Program for both technical and sales training, further boosting numbers.

'Extending our strategic alliance with Microsoft further strengthens HP's enterprise strategy, which is focused on empowering CIOs to align IT with business by delivering more cost-effective, scalable, secure ways of enhancing employee productivity,' said Ann Livermore, executive vice president of the Technology Solutions Group at HP. 'HP itself is a great example of the power of Solutions for the People-Ready Business, as we are using many of the technologies in the portfolio to empower our people to conduct business at any time, from anywhere.'

With a 20-year partnership behind them and some 20,000 joint customers, the companies are hoping to make themselves a one-stop shop for the enterprise customer.

John Gantz, chief research officer with IDC, said: 'This agreement means that the two companies and their combined ecosystems have an opportunity to bring complete solutions to their customers in these critical areas ... Just the software markets alone in business intelligence, collaboration, content management and infrastructure software running on Windows will be a $49 billion market in 2007. Add in communications, hardware, and services, it is easily over $100 billion.'