Long-time enterprise hardware vendor Unisys has felt the winds of change blowing, and is moving further into the consulting and services market with a twist: the company plans to remain neutral with respect to the hardware and operating system infrastructure it works with.

This is in marked contrast to other companies offering deep managed infrastructure services, such as HP and IBM, which naturally prefer to work with the hardware and operating systems which they are selling. As customers are beginning to realize, this does not make for an objective consulting arrangement.

Unisys has offered IT services since 1992 and isn't a stranger to enterprise consulting, but obviously hopes that this platform-agnostic play will give them an edge in the market. According to Senior VP Rich Marcello, quoted in this eWeek article, "We are basically moving away from a hardware-centric company," Marcello said, "to a more solution-centric company that is focused on...what the hardware can do underneath all that." Customers who are looking for those solutions rather than the marketing song and dance that other vendors offer should respect Unisys' willingness to work with varied hardware and operating systems and to piece together the right solutions on a case by case basis instead of trying to slap a one size fits all answer onto every engagement.