Operating as a single point of contact for Unilever's enterprise computing environment, HP will work with Unilever's strategic partners, including SAP, Microsoft and BT, to help reduce costs and ease the integration of new applications. HP also will manage the third-party contracts within Unilever’s technology environment in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Africa, Turkey and Middle East.

Through this agreement, HP will provide management of Unilever's IT processes and services, including: corporate data centres, messaging and directory services, Internet and intranet systems hosting, disaster recovery services, and the outsourcing of 4500 multi-vendor UNIX and Windows servers and storage environments.

As part of this agreement, approximately 250 Unilever employees will transfer to HP.

"In this space, HP has demonstrated a distinctive collaborative approach combined with a clear expertise in the delivery of global services", stated Neil Cameron, chief information officer, Unilever. "This agreement is a natural extension of our current relationship. The intention between both parties is to leverage HP's scale, expertise and industry leadership to ensure Unilever has access to world-class technology at substantially lower costs."

"We look forward to helping Unilever further transform its technology environment to better align with the business. This will improve performance and lower operational costs", stated Pablo Sanchez-Lozano, senior vice president and general manager, HP Services - EMEA. "While HP delivers consistent and predictable service all over the globe for Unilever, they can focus their energies and resources on growing their business."