EDS Names Alliance Partners

IT-services company Electronic Data Systems formally unveiled Monday an alliance with several major technology vendors to whom EDS will turn for the bulk of the hardware and software on which it runs its customers' IT and network operations. In exchange for the purchasing commitments, EDS will receive favorable pricing from the vendors and the chance to work closely with them on future technology road maps.

EDS' Agility Alliance partners include Cisco Systems, Dell, EMC, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and Xerox. Their products will form the backbone of EDS' Agile Enterprise offering, essentially an outsourced IT infrastructure on which EDS plans to offer advanced technology services such as pay-as-you-go computing and capacity on demand. EDS rivals Computer Sciences Corp., Hewlett-Packard, and IBM Global Services also are pushing similar models to their customers. EDS first talked publicly about its alliance plans earlier this year.

CEO Michael Jordan, in an interview last month with InformationWeek, said EDS "lacked consistent technology frameworks" and needed to standardize its service delivery architecture on products from several handpicked vendors. Jordan said such a move would help the company lower its own costs while allowing it to price its offerings more aggressively. EDS officials also make no bones about the fact that the Agility Alliance strategy will reduce the company's spending on hardware and software from HP and IBM, which compete with the company in the services market.

EDS says it plans to announce alliance partners for application software in the coming months.