Toshiba, HP to tie up on cloud services

CALIFORNIA, USA: Japan's Toshiba Corp said on Thursday that it and Hewlett Packard Co will tie up on cloud computing services to support public networks ranging from power, water and gas services to information technology systems.

Toshiba, which is under pressure to lessen its focus on nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, said it expected its sales related to 'smart community' services to hit 900 billion yen ($11 billion) in 2015, up from the current 300 billion yen.

The industrial electronics firm, whose products include reactors, chips and washing machines, has sent engineers to help Tokyo Electric Power Co bring its Fukushima plant under control. It bought U.S. nuclear firm Westinghouse in a $5 billion deal in 2006 in a bid to ride a global wave in new nuclear power projects.

Last month it warned that it may need to push back its target of 39 orders for nuclear reactors by two to three years and increase focus on renewables and smart grids .

Its shares ended morning trade down 0.5 percent, while the Nikkei average fell 0.8 percent.