Sun and HDS extend global alliance

Sun Microsystems, Hitachi, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hitachi Data Systems have extended the terms of their global distributor agreements and related collaborative agreements for an additional two years, a year ahead of the expiration of the existing agreement.

"This partnership is a win for Sun, HDS and Sun customers," said Mark Canepa, executive vice president of Sun Network Storage. "We are able to solve critical customer problems such as data centre consolidation and application availability with a best of breed product. At the same time, we are able to deliver to our customers a fully tested and integrated end-to-end IT solution with a single service contract for support."

"Hitachi is pleased to extend our partnership with Sun, which has allowed us to expand our customer base as well as assert our leadership in data centre storage," said Dave Roberson, president and chief operating officer of Hitachi Data Systems. "This agreement provides proof that both companies are committed to driving forward the concept that collaboration is vital in an industry where customers require open, interoperable, high-performance storage solutions from trusted vendors."

Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will extend their collaboration for hardware, software and services to provide improved integration and ease of management in complex environments. Collaboration between the companies consists of marketing, sales support, services and joint customer support centres.

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