Dell And SAP Expand PartnershipDell And SAP Expand Partnership

Dell and SAP unveiled an expanded partnership Wednesday, encouraging their enterprise customers to abandon traditional Unix deployments and migrate to Linux or Windows-based computing clusters.

"We see a shift in the enterprise market to standards-based hardware," Dell chairman and CEO Michael Dell said at a news conference. "It can provide customers with the performance and reliability they need and lowers the total cost of ownership associated with owning and maintaining these systems." Dell predicts that Unix will rapidly lose market share, and standards-based two- and four-way systems will become more prevalent, creating a "huge opportunity" for his company.

Under the agreement, the companies will collaborate to provide support to existing users, as well as to offer guidance to potential customers. According to Dell, there are more than 5,000 users worldwide who run SAP applications on Dell systems. Under the agreement, Dell will become the primary contact for support of these users.

Dell will also begin offering professional services tailored to SAP deployments. The "Dell Migration Services" will help provide a road map and support for businesses migrating their existing Unix-based deployments to Linux or Windows-based systems.

During the news conference, Michael Dell also said he sees solid signs of a recovery in IT spending. "We do see right now that tech spending is increasing, and companies are becoming more confident in their businesses," he said. "They're moving away from just a focus on cost and thinking more competitively."