The deal was announced at the Linux Solutions Event in Paris and sees Palo Alto, California-based HP installing Paris, France-based Mandrake’s Corporate Server and Corporate Desktop operating systems and Multi Network Firewall security product from this month.
The announcement only covers France at this time, and HP was unable to comment before press time on whether it will be rolled out across the rest of Europe or elsewhere. What they did announce was that they would be providing common technical support for the combined systems.
HP has a long-term relationship with Mandrake and has offered its Mandrake Linux operating system as the Linux choice on a number of its HP Compaq Business Desktop machines over the last two years.
Launched in January, Corporate Desktop is Mandrake’s first foray into the emerging market for business-specific Linux desktop products. HP’s endorsement of the product, even if it does only apply to Mandrake’s native France at the moment, is an early seal of approval.
HP has forged partnerships with all the major Linux players over the years, and last year announced that it would lead with Novell Inc’s SuSE Linux across its hardware line. So far HP, like other desktop vendors, has been less than proactive about promoting Linux preinstalled on its desktop machines.
