Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ.N on Friday said it would bundle BEA Systems Inc. flagship software product WebLogic on its best-known line of high-end computers, stepping up their alliance to do battle against a common foe, IBM.
Hewlett-Packard, which is tied with International Business Machines Corp. as the No. 1 maker of hardware, will ship a copy of the most up-to-date version of WebLogic with its UX11i server.
"With this bundle, what we provide is a unique competitive offering that HP and BEA together can bring to the market relative to our natural common enemies here," said Gamiel Gran, BEA's vice president of strategic alliances.
"Clearly, we're eager to present our message relative to IBM and IBM WebSphere, and similarly HP has an interest to erode IBM market share, as well."
The announcement is the most recent between the two companies that have periodically dangled hints of their relationship ever since Peter Blackmore, HP's head of high-end computers, said that the company would "retire" its middleware business.
News source: Reuters - BEA and Hewlett-Packard Team Up Against IBM
