Microsoft, HP betting $US250 million on IT simplification partnership

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 14 January 2010 07:44

IT Industry - Strategy

Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have announced a $US250 million investment in their new 'infrastructure to application' model aimed at simplifying IT in small to big businesses.

Over the next three years, Microsoft and HP plan to spend $US250 million on an 'infrastructure to application' model that will deliver highly optimised hardware, software and services for business computing.

This expanded alliance between the companies is aimed at delivering a simple, fast and effective way of building systems that scale quickly and deliver the "lowest possible total cost of ownership", according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

The project will involve an engineering roadmap for product development, the delivery of a comprehensive set of integrated solutions, and integrated sales and support, he added.

The companies are taking "a comprehensive look at the entire technology stack", including virtualisation and systems management, Ballmer said, observing that Microsoft and HP have been working together for 25 years.

The transformation from a PC and server centric world to cloud computing is happening, and MS and HP will deliver solutions that integrate the various components, he said.

"The result will be a dynamic IT infrastructure that is automatically provisioned, managed and tuned."

The vision includes the integration of public or private cloud computing models as required. Microsoft will continue to develop the infrastructure for Azure, and HP will offer services for Azure.

What about the plans for actual products? See page 2.