HP, Microsoft Team Up to Tackle the Cloud

Came across this interesting alliance..HP and Microsoft for cloud computing..
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2010/tc20100113_231894.htm
I think most of the vendors wants to test cloud computing and best alliance ofcourse a hardware vendor partnering with software giants.
But interestingly, I rarely get to see partnership of software vendors partnering with hardware tech giants.
Most of the IT companies are offering cloud computing services with hardware alliance as per customer's choice... lets c where does this space shapes up..