Hewlett Packard Enterprise is gearing up to announce a new partnership with Microsoft, which will see Azure become HPE's ‘preferred cloud alternative'.

The new partnership, full details of which have yet to be disclosed, will help close the gap left when HPE's Helion Public Cloud closes on January 31, 2016.

In announcing the closure, HPE said it would instead focus on its private and managed cloud capabilities, and look to partners to provide any public cloud capabilities.

Yesterday Meg Whitman disclosed the partnership with Microsoft during the company's quarterly earnings call with analysts.

While Microsoft will become HPE's ‘preferred public cloud partner', HPE will become the ‘preferred provider of Microsoft infrastructure and services for its hybrid cloud offerings'.

Whitman says Microsoft shares HPE's view of a hybrid IT approach for enterprises ‘and we both see opportunity to simplify hybrid infrastructure for our customers'.

Whitman says the hybrid cloud environment presents a ‘significant growth' opportunity for HPE.

HPE has been under increasing pressure from enterprise cloud adoption. Its latest financials saw its enterprise services division revenue drop 9% year on year to $5 billion.

Full details of the partnership are expected to be unveiled at HPE Discover in London next week.