H-P, Microsoft To Spend $250M In Effort To Simplify IT Management

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) unveiled details of a three-year pact to spend $250 million in an effort to help simplify information-technology systems.
The tech titans say they plan to invest an additional $250 million into developing new products around the Microsoft Windows Azure platform, with the companies offering services and Microsoft continuing to invest in H-P hardware for the Azure infrastructure.
The two tech giants said they will collaborate in designing a full "stack" of data center hardware, software management tools and other applications, as well as on Windows Azure, which is Microsoft's operating platform for cloud computing, in which customers can access data center services over the Internet.