SAN FRANCISCO: Network computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. and consulting
firm Electronic Data Systems Corp. said on Monday that they had struck a
non-exclusive partnership that they expect to bring them an additional combined
$3 billion in revenues over five years.
The two firms have had a strategic alliance for a year-and-a-half and worked
together longer, and executives in a telephone interview declined to say what
sort of increase the closer relationship would bring and how the revenue would
be broken down between firms.
Palo Alto, California-based Sun and Plano, Texas-based EDS said the $3
billion over five years would be in addition to sales generated from current
cooperation. They aim to build and even operate technology systems for mid-sized
and major customers. As part of the cooperative deal, Sun will provide hardware
and software and EDS consulting and outsourcing.
The specialist companies are competing against firms like International
Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. that offer both consulting
services and computer hardware and software. "We have common competitors in
the marketplace," John Wilkerson, EDS vice president of global alliances,
said in an interview ahead of the announcement.
Wilkerson said the firms had already proven they worked well together, and he
argued that their nonexclusive arrangement will allow them to serve customers
better than IBM or H-P, which are more bound to relying on their own wares.
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.