For Microsoft, this is a crucial victory: IBM has pre-existing relationships with many of the world’s largest businesses.

Late last year, Microsoft signed a Surface resale deal with Dell

Microsoft also today announced a reseller arrangement with Booz Allen Hamilton, a reseller of software and hardware that specializes in serving government agencies and the defense industry.

They’re already working together on custom, highly-secure Surface-powered solutions, and Booz Allen Hamilton is assisting in the US Department of Defense’s migration to Windows 10.

The first custom Surface solutions developed by IBM will focus on providing apps for financial services and packaged consumer goods, he says.

From IBM’s perspective, this is just another way for them to sit in the middle and provide the lucrative consulting, reselling and development work that they do best, for a range of devices that are proving very popular in both work and business.

icrosoft is also announcing today an expansion of its “Surface as a Service”          kind of like Apple’s iPhone subscription plans but for a business audience.