MIT, HP forming digital data alliance

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Hewlett-Packard Co. are set

to form a $25 million alliance to develop new ways to create and manage

digital information.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed June 2, the two organizations

will work together for five years to investigate new architectures, devices

and user interfaces for use in information-rich environments as well as

new services for commerce, education and personal use.

The alliance establishes a stronger research alliance, sharing resources

and HP equipment.

Future plans include projects within the Laboratory for Computer Science,

the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the Media Lab, the Sloan Center

for eBusiness@MIT, the Internet and Telecoms Convergence Consortium and

the MIT libraries.

HP and MIT have partnered before. In March MIT libraries and HP announced

plans to build a $1.8 million digital archive. HP is also a founding sponsor

of the Sloan School for eBusiness@MIT, committing $900,000 over three years.