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Microsoft and HP Sign $300M Services Pact

Microsoft and HP announced Wednesday a three-year $300 million deal to collaborate in selling hardware, software and services to their joint customers.

The investment by the two companies is intended to pay for collaborative efforts in solution development, testing, validation, deployment, and joint sales and marketing, representatives of the two tech giants said in a Webcast and conference call from Microsoft's Redmond campus.

Key to the deal will be investments and collaboration focusing on five chief areas, including messaging and unified communications, collaboration and content management, business intelligence, business process integration, and Microsoft core infrastructure, the two companies said.

"This is an over $50 billion opportunity," said Microsoft COO Kevin Turner. "[The deal] is about driving hardware sales and services for HP and about selling more Microsoft software." The two companies have more than 20,000 shared customers worldwide, he said.

"The scale of the commitment and the opportunity is very large," added Ann Livermore, executive vice president of the technical solutions group at HP. "We've got more Microsoft solutions professionals than anyone in the world."

As part of the deal, HP will train 3,000 new Microsoft solutions consultants. Additionally, over the next three years, HP will grow its Microsoft-focused service capability to more than 30,000 Microsoft-trained resources, with 8,000 trained during the 2007 and 2008 timeframe, according to statements posted by the two companies online.

About the Author

Stuart J. Johnston has covered technology, especially Microsoft, since February 1988 for InfoWorld, Computerworld, Information Week, and PC World, as well as for Enterprise Developer, XML & Web Services, and .NET magazines.

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