UPDATE: HP Acquires Services VAR Extreme Logic

Ann Livermore, executive vice president for HP Services, unveiled the acquisition during her keynote address Wednesday morning at the HP World conference in Atlanta.

Privately held Extreme Logic wil become a wholly owned subsidiary of HP and operate under the HP Services organization, according to HP. No financial details were given.

Atlanta-based Extreme Logic brings about 200 people into HP's professional services organization, Livermore told a half-full room of attendees. She said Extreme Logic does consulting for Fortune 500 clients, with a particular emphasis on .Net applications.

The deal fulfills a promise HP made last fall to buy solution providers to build up its Microsoft services business. Last September, Rick Fricchione, vice president of enterprise Microsoft services at HP, told CRN that HP planned to acquire smaller solution providers to become a leading .Net services group (see story).

HP said it aims to tap into Extreme Logic's extensive Web services, .Net development and consulting skills, as well as its expertise in vertical markets such as financial services, health care, retail, e-government and manufacturing.

In addition, HP said it plans to leverage Extreme Logic's e-learning, security and infrastructure experience and presence in the southern and eastern regions of the United States.

In a statement, Wain Kellum, president and CEO of Extreme Logic, said, "Joining HP is the logical next step for our company and opens up new and exciting opportunities for all of us. We feel our clients will benefit from the acquisition as they will have access to an enhanced set of capabilities under HP Services."

The day before, Extreme Logic, which was named the Microsoft Partner of the Year for North America for 2003, was recognized by Microsoft as a Gold Certified Partner for Enterprise Systems and Security Solutions.

The Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Program for Enterprise Systems identifies partners that focus on large-scale enterprise deployments, as well as complex server design and migration planning projects. The Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Program for Security Solutions identifies partners that have proven their expertise in building or delivering security solutions based on Microsoft technologies, according to Extreme Logic executives.

In the statement issued by HP on Wednesday morning, Microsoft's top sales and services guru applauded the move.

"HP's acquisition of Extreme Logic will deepen their expertise on .Net application development and help them meet the escalating demand for .Net solutions across all industries in the U.S," said Kevin Johnson, group vice president of worldwide marketing, sales and services at Microsoft, in the statement.

Last September, Microsoft and HP announced a $50 million .Net services alliance.

CRAIG ZARLEY contributed to this story.