Computerworld reports that Philips Electronics NV has canceled its agreement with Dell Inc. for hardware and managed desktop services.
According to an earlier report announcing the deal in Dec. 2004, the five-year agreement had a potential value of $700 million. Dell was to have managed desktop computers, printers, office networks and applications and provided technical help to about 75,000 Philips employees.
The latest article says the contract was canceled "after its original goal — creating a centralized desktop environment for Philips employees around the world — was found to be the wrong approach."
The story quotes a spokesperson for Philips: "Through the development work, it was concluded that the global one-size-fits-all strategy was not the ideal approach… The lesson from this is that we need to reflect the regional needs of our businesses."
In light of the global standardization efforts being mapped out by GM and its tier-one providers, I find it interesting that another sizable company has decided that taking the world view in tech decisions isn’t necessarily the only way to go.
