The new agreement extends the long-standing close partnership between Bull and Microsoft focused on Microsoft environments. It covers possible collaboration in the following areas:

• Infrastructure virtualization, to support the development of optimized, very large-scale, combined Windows/Linux platforms, particularly taking into account the needs of hosted Web environments
• Critical applications, to ensure better integration between Unix and Linux systems, and Microsoft technologies, and reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Extreme Computing, taking into account the need to effectively manage combined Windows HPC/Linux clusters.

The first concrete output of this partnership is the launch by Bull subsidiary Agarik of Cloud Maker, an innovative Cloud computing offering that allows users to adapt the level of service to their requirements, and to monitor the operation of their platforms in real time. Bull's Cloud Maker offering utilizes the Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor, under which both Linux and Windows virtual machines operate equally effectively. With Cloud Maker, Bull has launched the first even commercial offerings using the Open Source code made available by Microsoft in July 2009 for optimizing Linux virtual machines running under Hyper-V.

"For many years now, Microsoft has been involved in a deliberate policy of promoting interoperability in information systems, both at the heart of our own software and through our contributions to industry standards, our on-going collaborative work with our customers, partners and competitors, and by making available the highest possible number dedicated technological resources", explained Alfonso Castro, Director of Interoperability Strategy at Microsoft France. "Today's launch of Cloud Maker is yet another example of this in action. The extension of our collaboration with Bull - a technology company and one of the main players in the worlds of Unix, Open Source and mainframes in Europe - will enable us to strengthen the synergies between our solutions to an even greater extent."

"As 'Architect of an Open World', Bull's vision is to gather together intelligence from across the world and use it to help boost its customers' performance", added Bruno Pinna, Group Marketing Director at Bull. "Interoperability, synergies and collaborative agreements are at the very heart of our business model and the added value we deliver. For years now we have been working closely with the largest software publishers, such as Microsoft, as well as with the biggest Open Source communities. The strategic partnership that we have built up with Microsoft in the area of interoperability will be a new, joint driver for innovation, benefiting users of heterogeneous technologies."