Hewlett Packard Corp [HPQ] may have ruled out buying services and consulting giant Cap Gemini Ernst and Young [CAPP.PA], but it has extended its relationship with the consultant to make the two each other’s “preferred” partners for storage systems and services.
Hewlett Packard’s (HP) storage division has already committed itself heavily to Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) the implementation of which involves a great deal of high-level consulting regarding business procedures and compliance with data retention regulations
Cap Gemini Ernst and Young (CGEY) is particularly strong in the healthcare and retail industries. The US healthcare industry is already one of the major targets for compliance and ILM consulting services, because of the data retention aspects of the recently introduced HIPPA legislation, and because of the high volumes of digitized X-ray images that must be stored.
Both companies believe the ILM market will grow from $500 million this year to $5 billion in 2006, bearing in mind ILM is an all-embracing term covering nearly all aspects of storage.
Rumors that HP was negotiating to buy CGEY have been circulating for some while, but HP dismissed the speculation, saying the company is not in the market for any large consulting acquisitions.
This article was based on material originally published by ComputerWire.
