To address more than a $1-billion opportunity, IT hardware vendor HCL Infosystems has tied up with Microsoft for bundling their products and offer complete integrated solutions for small and medium businesses.

"There are more than 1.8 million small and medium business in India and more than 50 per cent of them do not even have a PC. To be competitive they will need to use IT and with this partnership we will be able to provide them solutions at an affordable cost," Rajendra Kumar, HCL vice president, said.

While hardware will be provided by HCL where the servers will come pre-configured with Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 and desktops will have Windows XP Pro operating system and Office Basic 2003.

The alliance, which will be operated by HCL on the ground, will provide consultancy, implementation, training and initial hand holding to the small businesses.

"According to AMI Partners Survey, small and medium business in India will spend $1.2 billion on IT. In India, small and medium businesses account for 50 per cent of Microsoft revenues. This alliance will address that market," Punit Vannaria, Business Development Manager at Microsoft India said.

For this initiative, HCL will work closely with its existing channel partners, who will be trained as they will be interfacing with the clients. "We will also upgrade some of our partners. As they will no longer be selling the boxes but solutions and creating awareness about them among clients," Kumar said.