US-based telecom major, Sprint Corporation, a global communications company that is pioneering efforts in integrating wireline and wireless communications services, has joined hands with computer hardware major, Sun Microsystems, to create a strategic alliance.

Sprint is a large carrier of Internet traffic and a leader in broadband communications. Sprint built and operates the United States'' first nationwide all-digital, fibre-optic network and provides a portfolio of advanced data communications services.

Under the alliance agreement the two companies will align their sales and marketing teams to provide an integrated Web solution for customers. It is expected that this alliance will help both companies capture revenue and market share in the hosting and application infrastructure provider markets.

Sun Microsystems, a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet, will become a preferred technology provider within the Sprint E|Solutions Internet Centre infrastructure and will help drive significant sales activity during the next three years.

The alliance hopes to leverage Sun''s strong global leadership in providing the Internet computing platform and its reputation for outstanding technologies together with Sprint''s award-winning, top-rated Tier 1 IP backbone and expert sales force. This combination, the two companies, believe, will present customers with a compelling value proposition.

According to Mark Bowser, Sprint’s vice president of Business Development, Strategy and Alliances Sprint and Sun, combined, offer a strong complementary alliance with a shared vision of providing end-to-end solutions to the market.

Sprint’s E|Solutions division has been set up with a focus on delivering superior quality e-business solutions to customers. Sun Microsystems will play a major role in deployment of the Sprint E|Solutions Internet infrastructure strategy and will provide the necessary mission-critical, Web-based solutions for its extensive network of Sprint E|Solutions Internet Centres throughout the US.

In the process, Sun will use its entire technology range, which includes Sun Enterprise servers and storage devices running on the robust Solaris operating environment, and software technologies from iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions.

According to John McFarlane, executive vice president of Sun''s Network Service Provider group, with the combination of Sun''s massively scalable and reliable Internet computing platform and Sprint''s complete hosting services, the alliance will be able to deliver anytime, anywhere E|business infrastructure solutions for customers.

The alliance proposes to target all-sized businesses and address key customer needs, such as scaled networks and services, integrated performance management between application servers and data networks, managed and professional services, accessible information technology support, and a single, managed platform for application deployment.

Customers are expected to benefit from the alliance''s complete suite of secure, reliable and scalable e-business services, improved speed to market, lower total cost of ownership and overall improved ability to leverage technology, thus allowing them to spend less time and money on managing technology and more time focusing on their core business.

In a commitment to deliver the highest quality service, Sprint E|Solutions is seeking to SunTone certify its Internet data centre hosting services. The SunTone program is designed to provide end-user customers the confidence that every aspect of a service provider''s operations and infrastructure has been evaluated and judged to be reliable and high quality.

Sprint E|Solutions is also joining the Sun Startup Accelerator program and Sun''s Service Provider program, as an Elite Plus member. The Sun Startup Accelerator program will nurture startups by providing Sprint''s Web hosting and Sun''s platform through a single solution, helping to enable companies to reach the application deployment stage more rapidly.

Both Sprint and Sun enjoy well-respected brands and strong customer service. With this alliance, they have a clear strategy with complementary corporate visions, which will help enable them to create a world-class team for delivering hosted applications anytime, anywhere via secure, manageable hardware and software platforms.