Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) and HP (NYSE “HPQ,” Nasdaq “HPQ”) today announced a three-year agreement to deliver an expanded portfolio of solutions for enterprise customers around the world. HP is the first premier global partner to deliver comprehensive solutions for the People-Ready Business, Microsoft’s vision for how people, armed with the right software, are the key to driving business success.

“With the recent announcement of the largest product launch to business customers in our company’s history with Windows Vista™ and the 2007 Microsoft® Office system, we are bringing to market more than 30 new products and services in the next year that will further enable People-Ready Businesses,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. “Through our collaboration with HP, our more than 20,000 joint customers will have access to an expanded set of solutions and services to tackle their most pressing business problems.”

“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.”

Building on a more than 20-year alliance, Microsoft and HP plan to invest at least $300 million over three years to cover collaborative efforts in solution development, testing, validation, deployment, and joint sales and marketing.

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