--Dell, Oracle expand their alliance
--Each company to name the other as a preferred partner
--Integrated products expected to be available in second
half
(Updated to include more details throughout. Updates share
prices.)
By Tess Stynes
Dell Inc. (DELL) unveiled an expanded global alliance with
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) in which the companies will offer business
products that combine Dell's hardware and Oracle's software.
For Oracle, the expanded alliance reflects the company's
struggles with incorporating its $7.5 billion purchase in 2010 of
hardware maker Sun Microsystems. It also continues the company's
estrangement from longtime hardware partner Hewlett-Packard Co.
(HPQ).
Meanwhile, Dell--the struggling computer maker that plans to go
private in a leveraged buyout transaction--has been striving to
compete aggressively to retake some of its lost share in the market
for personal computers and servers.
Under the alliance, each company will name the other as a
preferred partner. They also plan to streamline customer-support
offerings to provide a single point of contact from Dell.
Dell said it expects the integrated offering will be available
in the second half of this year.
Oracle President Mark Hurd said the partnership "is an extension
of Oracle's engineered systems strategy where we simplify IT and
reduce integration costs by delivering hardware and software
together."
Marius Haas, president of enterprise solutions for Dell, said
the company "is growing fast in the data-center and gaining market
share across the world in our three core businesses."
Financial terms weren't provided. The alliance was announced at
Dell's enterprise forum, where the company also highlighted some of
its new enterprise offerings.
Dell shares added a penny at $13.46. Oracle slid 40 cents to
$33.99.
While Oracle is dominant in sales of software used by
businesses, the company has struggled to prove that its addition of
Sun's hardware line will pay off. In the company's fiscal third
period, which ended in February, hardware sales fell 23%.
Oracle's hardware struggles came after the company began to
separate from its once-close partner, H-P. That relationship began
fraying when Oracle said it would buy Sun, a move that put the two
companies in competition. It worsened after Oracle hired ousted H-P
Chief Executive Mark Hurd and, later, decided to stop making
database software for some H-P servers.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@dowjones.com
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