Microsoft Says Dell, HP Will Sell Surface to Big Companies

Microsoft Corp. said Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. will sell Surface tablet computers in a bid to encourage more large companies to buy the machines.

For Dell, the agreement is unusual because the computer maker will provide support and warranties for the devices as if it had manufactured them, which Dell typically doesn’t do for another company’s hardware, Kirk Schell, vice president and general manager, Dell commercial client solutions, said in an interview. That will allow large customers to order and deploy the devices with the rest of their Dell servers and computers.