Microsoft, HP All Over This Cloud Computing Thing
Big news from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Microsoft (MSFT) today: A three-year alliance that will see them investing $250 million in a new cloud-computing venture.
In a buzzword-riddled press release, they said they “will collaborate on an engineering roadmap for data management machines; converged, prepackaged application solutions; comprehensive virtualization offerings; and integrated management tools.”
Translation: HP and Microsoft will collaborate on the Windows Azure platform.
“This agreement, which spans hardware, software and services, will enable business customers to optimize performance with push-button simplicity at the lowest possible total cost of ownership,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.
“Our extended partnership will transform the way large enterprises deliver services to their customers,” Ballmer added, “and help smaller organizations adopt IT to grow their businesses. Microsoft and HP are betting on each other so our customers don’t have to gamble on IT.”
Under the terms of the deal Microsoft and HP will collaborate on:
Virtualization
• Microsoft is now a preferred provider of virtualization solutions for HP, which will make it easier for a broader set of customers to deploy virtualization solutions that can improve server utilization by as much as 10 times and reduce provisioning ties from months to minutes.
• Microsoft and HP will deliver “smart bundles” for small and medium businesses. These are a combination of hardware and software, including HP server, storage and networking solutions, coupled with Windows Server Hyper-V and HP Insight software, delivered in a single, cost-effective package.
Management
• HP now has the rights to resell and ship System Center as part of HP’s solutions. This solution will be tuned, integrated and ready for customers.
• And coming soon, HP’s Insight Software and Business Technology Optimization solutions will begin to integrate and interoperate with Microsoft’s System Center suite of products. This means that customers with heterogeneous computing environments will be able to more easily and more cost-effectively manage hardware and software from Microsoft and non-Microsoft operating systems and applications.
Business Applications
• The companies will deliver a set of prepackaged and preconfigured data management and email solutions (“machines”) that will deliver data warehousing, business intelligence, online transaction processing and messaging solutions.
The Cloud
• HP and Microsoft will collaborate on the Windows Azure platform, with HP offering services, and Microsoft continuing to include HP hardware for Windows Azure infrastructure.