HCL bags $170 Million IT deal from Microsoft
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 06 April 2009, 22:36 IST   |    1 Comments
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New Delhi: HCL Technologies has reportedly bagged a five-year IT services contract worth close to $170 million from software giant Microsoft Corporation. HCL has become a strategic vendor for providing technology services to Microsoft for its online services business, according to a person close to the development, reports The Economic Times. This is the third major contract bagged by HCL in the last few weeks. The online services business is a part of Microsoft’s software-plus services strategy. HCL will provide the back-end support for these services. Under this business, Microsoft provides communications and collaboration software such as e-mail and web conferencing services to enterprises on the basis of subscription. Such services are hosted by Microsoft and its partners on their own servers, while the enterprise client uses them on the Web. About 250 HCL employees have already started working on the Microsoft contract, on which HCL will deploy 600 employees in total. The company will also assign staff on its bench, or the buffer staff kept for new projects or ramp-ups of existing contracts, to cater to Microsoft. There is also a possibility that HCL may hire more people for it. Microsoft has been expanding the scope of its online services business. It recently announced that it will make its Business Productivity Online Suite, part of its online services, available for trial and purchase in 19 countries. Such offerings, classified under software-as-a-service, are more cost-effective, compared to traditional desktop-based services, as companies don't have to spend on deploying and operating them. For HCL, the deal with Microsoft means another win in a series of new deals this year.

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