27 

2002

IBM

 provides enhanced voice recognition technology for a revolutionary new navigation system 

for select models of the 2003 Honda Accord.  

Alliances

Hitachi, Ltd. and 

IBM

 announce plans in April to form a strategic alliance to accelerate the 

delivery of advanced storage technologies and products to market. Under the terms of the  

preliminary agreement, the two companies plan a multi year alliance to research and develop 

new open standards based technologies for future storage networks, systems and solutions. 

Hitachi and 

IBM

 say they intend to combine various hard disk drive (

HDD

) operations into a new 

standalone, joint venture company, integrating their R&D and manufacturing operations, as well 

as related sales and marketing teams. Two months later, the two companies announce a definitive 

agreement to transfer their 

HDD

 operations to a new company under majority Hitachi ownership. 

Hitachi agrees to purchase the majority of 

IBM

's 

HDD

 related assets for $2.05 billion. Hitachi 

will initially own 70 percent of the new company    Hitachi Global Storage Technologies    and 

will make a series of fixed payments to 

IBM

 before assuming full ownership after three years.  

IBM

 and Red Hat announce a multiyear alliance, including services and expanded support for 

software and servers, that will enable the two companies to provide broad Linux support to 

enterprise customers around the world.   

IBM

 invests in Aprion Digital, a supplier of state of the art digital ink jet printing technology.  

In a unique collaboration, 

IBM

, Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and 

Toshiba Corporation sign a multi year agreement to jointly develop semiconductor technologies 

based on silicon on insulator and other 

IBM

 materials advances. This will lead to the 

development of high performance, low power chips necessary for a wide range of future 

electronic products    from digital consumer applications to supercomputers.  

Nextel Communications, Inc. and 

IBM

 form an alliance covering the development, marketing 

and deployment of mobile e business solutions to enterprise customers in the United States, as 

well as an eight year, $1.2 billion outsourcing initiative to manage and enhance Nextel's 

customer care capabilities.  

Nokia and 

IBM

 join forces in April in the public wireless 

LAN

 business. Three months later, the 

two companies announce an agreement on digital content delivery for mobile applications and 

services.  

IBM

 and Accelrys, Inc.    one of the largest software vendors in life sciences    form an alliance 

to enhance drug research and development.  

IBM

 and VMware, Inc. are developing tools using dynamic logical partitioning to consolidate 

more than 20  virtual servers  on a single 

IBM

 eServer.  

1406HHX