Microsoft and Nortel team up

SOFTWARE giant Microsoft has formed a four year glorious alliance with the networking outfit Nortel to develop and flog telecoms packages to corporations.

The big idea is that Vole and Nortel will create communications packages ranging from e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing and voice communications.

This idea of "unified communications" has been kicking around for years, although no outfit has actually achieved a true one stop shop for corporate IT.

Nortel reckons that it will get more than $1 billion in extra revenue from the deal, which is not to be sneezed at.

The glorious alliance has a web site here with a sinister picture of Steve Ballmer shaking hands with Mike Zafirovski and who look like they are about to bite each other. µ