HP Wins Tech-Support Contract With Microsoft

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s third-largest provider of computer services, won a multimillion-dollar contract over several years to manage a technical-support hotline for Microsoft Corp.

HP for two years has run a help-desk call center serving 11,000 Microsoft workers in 35 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The company now will support 61,000 people in as many as 68 countries, Hewlett-Packard Vice President Joe Hogan said.

He declined to comment on the precise length or value of the deal.

The computer maker ranks No. 3 in services after buying Compaq Computer Corp. in May, behind IBM Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp. Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard is trying to make up for slack system and software demand by boosting sales of services such as consulting and managing customers’ networks.