The multiyear agreements between HP and Dreamworks mark a big spotlight on the increasing overlap between technology and entertainment..
Hewlett-Packard Co., in a bid to tap the entertainment industry, has signed deals with DreamWorks SKG and Time Warner Inc.‘s Warner Brothers to jointly develop and market technology solutions tailored for Hollywood studios.
The multiyear agreements focus on the creation and management of digital content, such as rendering animation and digitally restoring old films. Terms of the deals aren’t publicly disclosed, but they highlight the increasing overlap between technology and entertainment, something HP has made its mind about.
H-P has worked with entertainment companies in the past, but primarily on specific, shorter-term projects. In another example of the trend, Apple Computer Inc. worked with recording studios to offer its iTunes Music Store, a legal download music service.
Hollywood executives, too, are increasingly interested in working with technology companies, as more of their work is created and stored digitally.
H-P began strengthening its entertainment ties in January, with its agreement to resell Apple’s iPod digital-music player and to bundle Apple’s iTunes software into HP personal computers. Last week, HP signed a deal with Nokia Corp. to enable its mobile-phone users to receive FM radio broadcasts.
H-P’s deal with Warner Brothers will focus on deploying technologies to digitally restore Warner’s old film library. That would allow Warner to put films such as “The Wizard of Oz” on DVD. The two companies also say they will develop technology that can then be offered to other studios, to improve the quality of digital films and to make film-making more efficient.
DreamWorks, meanwhile, said it will rent HP’s computers and storage via the Internet to make animation films such as “Shrek 2.” This is just a step further in HP’s hopes of being a “utility computing” leader, a vision that allows companies to pay only for the amount of computing power they actually use (also known as distributed computing.)
Addendum: Looks like HP also will help market a video-conferencing system that DreamWorks developed.