Big guns team up on web hosting

US telecom service provider WorldCom has teamed up with Compaq as both companies look to the global enterprise web hosting and internet co-location services market.

The deal is restricted to the US, but WorldCom said that a similar partnership with a different vendor could be announced in Europe within a month or so.

The US deal is essentially a joint sales and marketing agreement in which the pair aim to leverage each other's leads in the enterprise market.

According to both companies, the alliance will see joint sales calls to offer combined web hosting packages.

Compaq will deliver the hosting servers and software as well as consulting and customer support, while managed web hosting, co-location services and global network connections will be supplied by WorldCom's internet data centres.

The result for enterprise customers, according to the companies, is a hosting package that combines lower cost with increased uptime for web-based operations.

The alliance is non-exclusive for both partners, although how the new deal will play out alongside existing and similar alliances remains to be seen.

In the US, WorldCom already has similar agreements with key Compaq rival, Sun Microsystems. While plans for similar alliances in Europe are already underway, according to WorldCom.

"We are working with other vendors on similar deals in Europe that should be announced within the month," said WorldCom spokeswoman Janet Brumfield.

Compaq says it already has similar alliances in Europe with companies including Attenda in the UK.