To promote the use of Microsoft applications in data-center environments, Avanade Inc. will partner with EMC Corp. A $1 billion joint venture launched last year by Microsoft and former Big 5 service provider Accenture, Avanade will provide the systems-integration services needed to deploy Windows technology within EMC's E-Infostructure, the storage provider's information storage infrastructure.
EMC is seeing increased demand for deployment of Microsoft's Windows 2000, SQL Server, and Exchange Server in data centers, says a company spokeswoman. Although EMC already has systems integration partnerships in place with some of the IT services industry's largest providers--IBM Global Services, EDS, and Accenture--the relationship with Avanade is the first that will focus on Microsoft technology.
The data center represents the future of Microsoft's business, says Rob Enderle, a research fellow with Giga Information Group. Microsoft already dominates the desktop and PC server businesses, so the biggest room for advancement is the data center, where it has to compete with established Unix and midrange platforms. "To get validation, Microsoft needs the support of major storage providers like EMC," he says.
Enderle also points out that Microsoft's plans to gain data center market share will take time. "Microsoft's technology is easy to develop on, but it still doesn't scale as high as Unix because Unix is more closely linked to the hardware on which it runs," he says. Microsoft is hoping its Windows XP and the emergence of Intel Itanium-based servers also will help its efforts to scale upward into the data-center market.
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