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The Createch group implements another IBM(R) Maximo(R) service provider solution at livingston technologies

March 11th, 2010

The Createch Group’s Asset Management Solutions (AMS) business unit, announced today that Livingston Technologies, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System (SBHCS), New Jersey’s largest integrated health care delivery system, has selected the IBM Maximo for Service Providers Add-On Solution and has chosen The Createch Group to provide the implementation and the support services.

Livingston Technologies will use the system to manage the technology delivery, the facilities maintenance and the engineering services to a wide array of facilities/businesses that have outsourcing agreements in place.

“Maximo for Service Provider will help us to deliver better service to our customers”, said Bill Cuthill, Managing Director of Livingston Technologies. “It will enable us to manage our operations effectively against customer expectations, to manage risk as well, to drive efficiencies, and ensure to keep our customers satisfied. We will have a competitive advantage in delivering facilities management services to our own facilities, and other third party healthcare ones.”

Maximo for Service Providers is an add-on to Maximo, the leading system in the Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) market, and for Outsourced Managed Service Providers in particular. The Service Provider version helps service organizations to manage and maintain customer assets through a suite of applications that handle customer agreements, supplier contracts, service delivery and billing. It allows service providers, as well, to deliver differentiated services to better manage customers’ assets while supporting each customer’s established service levels.

“Our Maximo for Service Provider expertise is second to none,” said Mike Popovic, Senior Vice-President, AMS business unit, at The Createch Group. “We’ve successfully completed many Maximo for Service Provider implementations around the world and we have actively participated in the development of this add-on solution”.

The Createch Group is a recognized leading implementer and expert of the Maximo for Service Provider solution from IBM. The Createch Group has been involved in the product initial development, and implemented already this solution for many early adopters.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-createch-group-implements-another-ibmr-maximor-service-provider-solution-at-livingston-technologies-2010-03-10?reflink=MW_news_stmp

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Latest IBM layoffs blamed on outsourcing

March 4th, 2010

IBM is planning another round of layoffs–this time around it will be 2,000 workers. After shrinking its U.S. workforce by as many as 10,000 employees last year, IBM this week may be on its way to cutting another 2,000 workers. Rumors are swirling around the announcement, as some believe offshore outsourcing is the reason for the cuts.

Big Blue hasn’t commented on the latest round of layoffs. Word of it comes from Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701, which gathers its data from IBM employees, Computer World reports.

The union is blaming offshoring for many of the layoffs, and so are the workers.

“IBM is clearly offshoring things where they can,” said one IBM employee who received his notice this week and spoke to Computer World on the condition of anonymity.

Source:http://www.fiercecio.com/story/latest-ibm-layoffs-blamed-outsourcing/2010-03-03

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Security worries holding back cloud adoption: IBM

March 4th, 2010

Fears over security are hampering adoption of the cloud computing and the industry needs to do something to address those worries, according to Harriet Pearson, VP security counsel and chief privacy officer at IBM.

Speaking at IBM Pulse 2010, the company’s service management conference, Pearson said worries over security and the protection of data in the cloud was, “Top of mind for many organisations. IBM conducted a study of CIOs and potential users of cloud and about 80% said that the top issue on their mind that would affect their willingness to use it was data security,” she said.

Pearson said that issues with cloud security are similar to those in the outsourcing space. She said: “As we work with our clients what we see is no different than what we’ve been seeing in our outsourcing businesses.”

“To us, cloud computing is the next maturation of a computing model we’ve been doing for years. If you want to hand over the operation of your data for someone else to manage, you go through the same discussions,” Pearson said.

IBM recently announced a revamp of its security offerings which it says should help companies adopt new technologies.

The new services include Secure Web Gateway Service, Managed Firewall Service and Unified Threat Management Service, Security Information and Event Manager software, Security Content Analysis SDK and Security Privileged Identity Management and Compliance.

Charles Palmer, director of the Institute for Advanced Security and chief technologist of cybersecurity and privacy for IBM Research, said: “There is no lack of security products and services available today, but adding security after a system is developed or implemented seldom works.”

Pearson agrees, particularly when starting a cloud computing project. “If you’re moving something non-sensitive you can move it to a public cloud, where there is minimum flexibility to amend or change the terms and conditions. If you’re a larger organisation and want to move financial, accounts payable information you may need to choose a private cloud where there is more control,” she said.

“But you need to think through that at the beginning, before you hand the data over,” Pearson added. “You need to think about what happens at the end of the relationship – what happens to the data and so on.”

Novell and the Cloud Security Alliance recently announced the vendor-neutral “Trusted Cloud Initiative”, designed to provide best practice guidelines for cloud computing. The group will bring together cloud providers to produce a set of standards covering cloud security, compliance and identity management.

The body hopes that the new initiative will provide companies considering using the cloud with a trusted source for information regarding security, governance and control of data and IT assets.

Source:http://security.cbronline.com/news/security_worries_holding_back_cloud_adoption_ibm_030310

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IBM layoffs blamed on offshoring

March 3rd, 2010

After shrinking its U.S. workforce by as many as 10,000 employees last year, IBM this week may be on its way to cutting another 2,000 workers.

IBM isn’t commenting on its latest round of cuts and information about it comes from the Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701, which gathers its data directly from IBM employees. The Alliance, which has blamed offshoring for many of the layoffs, has been trying to win bargaining rights for employees.

“IBM is clearly offshoring things where they can,” said one IBM employee who received his notice yesterday and spoke on the condition of anonymity because he didn’t want to jeopardize his severance. A 10-year veteran and UNIX administrator, this employee said his customer support team once had 15 U.S.-based workers. That staff was reduced over time to just three workers in the U.S., with other members of the customer support team now in Brazil, Argentina and India.

The employee said he was not given a good reason for his layoff. “Higher ups made a decision that a certain percentage had to be cut – it was not performance-based at all,” he said. Although the employee said he’s uncertain about the job market, “my sense is that it is not horrendous [but] I’ll have to assume that I’ll have to take a cut in pay.”

As of last October, IBM employed 105,000 workers in the U.S., compared to 115,000 in 2008. In 2007, IBM had 121,000 U.S. employees. It employs about 400,000 globally.

IBM doesn’t discuss its jobs actions other than to explain that they are in response to shifting customer needs.

IBM’s workforce is scattered around the country and it continues to hire in U.S. locations. Michigan State University, for instance, has posted a notice about an IBM recruitment fair March 8 for IBM’s Michigan Delivery Center. It says the company has nearly 60 “upcoming openings” for application support specialists. A university official deferred questions to IBM.

IBM jobs are high paying and the company is a major employer in number communities, such as Burlington, Vt.

In a review last year of a bond issue for Burlington, Moody’s Investors Service looked at major employers and hiring trends to assess the economic health of the community. It wrote that IBM was Burlington’s single largest employer, with 5,400 workers at that point, or 5% of the area’s workforce.

“IBM recently announced job reductions, with the Burlington area reportedly experiencing between 300 and 500 IBM related job losses,” Moody’s wrote. “These recent cuts bring the total number of workers that IBM has laid off since 2001 to about 3,000, or 15% of manufacturing employment. Additional workforce reductions at IBM present considerable downside risk”

It was not immediately clear whether the Burlington workforce was affected directly by the latest round of cuts

Source:http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9164379/IBM_layoffs_blamed_on_offshoring

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IT Outsourcing in 2010: smaller deals, higher volume

February 27th, 2010

Last year the economic downturn caused some organizations to temporarily scale back on IT outsourcing efforts while they tackled more fundamental issues like keeping the company afloat.

This year, IT outsourcing is making a comeback… in Asia.

Dell Services  Chairman Jim Champy predicts the Asian IT outsourcing market will grow much faster in 2010. “IT outsourcing is set to rise in Asia as the region’s companies begin to modernize business processes and technology systems in a build-out that could last decades. We see, as most providers do, the Asian markets growing faster – clearly more than Europe, and certainly faster than the US,” explains Mr. Champy.

Offshore service providers who made significant investments in technology-related matters may have made the right move at the right time. As firms are already taking steps to outsource some information technology functions. One of them is U.S.-based commercial aircraft equipment manufacturer, Spirit AeroSystems , where some of its employees affected by the outsourcing plan will be offered jobs with International Business Machines Corporation  or Hewlett-Packard  –the providers taking over Spirit’s IT work, both of which have operations in Asia. Spirit spokesperson Ken Evans admits to not ruling out additional work that may be sourced out to offshore providers in the future.

A report from KPMG and the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry forecasts that Asia will account for 26.3% of the total consumption of IT and BPO services in the next 10 years. In the last quarter of 2009, Accenture and Capgemini expanded their presence in Asia particularly in the IT services segment. This proves that clients and partners remain attracted to the abundance of technical skills at a low cost.

KPMG’s forecast may happen in the long-run but for the time being service providers are feeling the recovery at smaller proportions but at a higher volume of job requests. According to IBM and Accenture executives, “IT consultants are probably already feeling it: the start of a rebound in business. But there’s a difference this time. The rebound is coming mostly in smaller deals rather than in gigantic ones… customers are contracting for a higher volume of smaller jobs.”

Small deals comprise a significant fraction of IBM’s and Accenture’s total revenue stream. So it no longer came as a surprise when Accenture acquired RiskControl, a privately held IT consulting company. The acquisition is expected to improve Accenture’s set of risk management services as it tries to gain a strong foothold in the IT offshoring market.

Interestingly, technology vendors acquired technology consulting firms at a quick pace in 2009. Others who made similar acquisitions were Affiliated Computer Services or ACS , now a Xerox  company, and Perot Systems I guess they may all be getting ready to grab a chunk of the incoming deals.

Source:http://seekingalpha.com/article/190928-it-outsourcing-in-2010-smaller-deals-higher-volume

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Outsourcing to India: Europe plays strictly by the rules

February 24th, 2010

European outsourcing customers prefer contract staff and local delivery, as per a latest Forrester study. Western Europe, which accounts for nearly $6.8-billion worth of India’s software exports, follows strict local labour rules and plans to avoid any move that could be viewed as anti-social, according to research firm Forrester.

After interviewing more than 30 vendor and user companies including Accenture, Capgemini, HP, IBM, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro, Forrester reported that while global players such as ABN Amro leverage Indian providers for their global IT development and support requirements, Continental European companies send very little or even no work to India.

While Germany showed relatively solid growth in the past two years, locations such as France, the third-largest European IT services market after the UK and Germany, has sent less than 2% of its overall IT services budgets to India. This is even as Indians service providers offer the lowest rates and offshore scale.

Factors including organisational structures heavy on senior staff, historic preference for staff augmentation and traditional unwillingness to let work go off-site make offshoring from Continental Europe a peculiar market that has eluded almost all service providers Indians, regional Europeans, and even multinationals.

Companies in Western Europe aren’t in a hurry to cut costs by outsourcing overseas. Instead, their top priority is to be well integrated with the local social fabric, which includes avoiding cutting jobs in their countries, and adhering to local labour rules and other norms.

Indian companies, too, have been relatively inflexible in their approach in Europe. For instance, Infosys’ Poland facility (primarily for finance and accounting services) show how top Indian firms tend to limit their focus to select markets and offer narrow capability in one or two service lines. Moreover, they prefer to manage the staff themselves, and offer delivery from offshore locations.

Besides, most Indian firms see a challenge in ramping up onshore and nearshore resources as it directly impacts their bottom line. To capture more work in Europe, Indian outsourcers are making several moves and investments to become more relevant to markets such as Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordics, and Switzerland.

They are further recruiting local country-level or practice-level leadership, ramping up and opening new nearshore centres, starting language and cultural training centres offshore to train delivery staff and tweaking business models to accommodate lower offshore ratios, the report said.

Global delivery service firms such as Siemens IT Solutions and Services have been using Indian resources for low-cost labour for more than a decade. But, most Continental clients are still taking a cautious approach toward offshoring and show only a moderate growth of offshore initiatives.

Traditionally many believed that European firms typically prefer to send their jobs to nearshore locations such as Eastern Europe for the cultural proximity and similar time zones. However, the report revealed that more than 60% of European firms intend to send their work to India.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/Outsourcing-to-India-Europe-plays-strictly-by-the-rules/articleshow/5609881.cms

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IBM, Accenture lead Gartner Magic Quadrant for SAP outsourcing

February 18th, 2010

BM and Accenture lead the field of SAP outsourcing providers, with CSC, Capgemini and HP giving chase, according to a recent Gartner Magic Quadrant report.

Accenture has among the largest and most-extensive range of SAP capabilities, and IBM has the size, longevity and scale of operations to match, the report states. Methodologies like IBM SmartRun and the vendor’s alignment with Run SAP methodology make for quality service. And IBM has good partnering skills.

It’s the first year that Gartner has completed a Magic Quadrant report dedicated to SAP outsourcing. They’ve seen a spike in demand for SAP outsourcing services because of the weak economy, said Ben Pring, Gartner research vice president and the report’s author.

“People are looking for more than just staff augmentation and are looking for full application management,” Pring said. “And people are looking increasingly across the whole stack, infrastructure and application skills.”

Gartner’s Magic Quadrant methodology places vendors that meet its inclusion criteria into one of four quadrants – leaders, challengers, visionaries, and niche players — based on “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute.” Gartner defines “outsourcing” as a “multiyear or annuity contract or relationship involving the provision of ongoing application services for managing, enhancing and maintaining custom or packaged software in server/host or desktop/client platforms.”

When it comes to full SAP application management, IBM and Accenture are the clear leaders, and they are very similar when it comes to quality of service, Pring said.

“A lot of it comes down to longevity,” he said. “IBM and Accenture have been going after this for a long time, and they’ve reaped the rewards of that.”

But because Accenture’s focus is on complex, large projects, it may not be a good fit for smaller customers, according to the report. For the same reason, prices may be “unattractive,” and some customers say they are not always pleased with Accenture’s thought leadership. In turn, some customers also have said there is a lack of collaboration between IBM staff, according to the report.

CSC, Capgemini and HP, while also ranked in the leaders’ quadrant, aren’t on the same level as Accenture and IBM, according to Pring. For instance, CSC is weaker in suggesting ideas and leading innovative projects the report says. HP has a tendency to “oversolution,” leading to scope creep and cost increases. And Capgemini is criticized for a “below-par quality of subcontracted staff that it uses in North America,” according to the report.

Wipro Technologies, Infosys Technologies, Perot Systems, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies are ranked as challengers in the Magic Quadrant. Their service offerings, while competitive, don’t match the totality of needs in the SAP market, according to the report. The niche quadrant is crowded with providers that have strengths in targeted areas.

There are no visionaries on this Magic Quadrant. SAP is a very well-known area, Pring said, and there isn’t much differentiation in the way people support it.

Source:http://searchsap.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid21_gci1389649,00.html

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Logicalis earns IBM software value plus certification

February 16th, 2010

Logicalis, a leading provider of high-performance technology solutions, announced it earned IBM’s new Software Value Plus certification. Through the program, Logicalis is authorized to sell and support its clients in the implementation, design and management of IBM Tivoli, Lotus, Websphere, Rational and Information Management software.

“Certifications are like key line items on a resume,” says Roger Finney, Director of Software for Logicalis. “They give clients a place to start when evaluating whether or not you have the needed skills to do the job they need done.”

The IBM Software Value Plus (SVP) initiative is designed to meet the demands of clients who are looking to drive more value from their technology investments by working with trusted partners who possess proven skills to quickly and effectively implement new infrastructures. Being an SVP-certified solution provider enables IBM Business Partners to set themselves apart by asserting that they have the key technical and industry skills necessary for smart technology implementations that help clients achieve their business goals.

Logicalis is a Premier IBM Business Partner with a long history in delivering technology solutions built around IBM platforms to its customers.

“IBM is committed to supporting an ecosystem of skilled partners that can provide the most value to our shared clients,” says Sandy Carter, Vice President, IBM Software Group Channels. “Business Partners who invest in the proper skills and expertise are well positioned to help clients achieve a faster time-to-value with the right solutions, reduce risk in solution development, and increase their return on investment over time.”

Logicalis and IBM are focused on creating infrastructures and systems that can unlock customers’ core innovative energies.

Through the SVP initiative, IBM software partners choose the IBM software platforms they want to build additional technical, marketing and sales skills in and can become certified and authorized to sell those products across multiple industries.

“Logicalis has invested in IBM software solutions for many years and we are pleased to see our investment pay off with our recent Software Value Plus certification achievement,” Finney says.

Under the SVP program, to secure authorizations in 11 software groups, Logicalis was required to earn over 30 specific certifications. These certifications are all additions to Logicalis’ 2009 Specialty Elite Dynamic Infrastructure Virtualization and Consolidation certification, and Logicalis’ six Deployment Accreditations, which include Tivoli Storage Manager, Productivity Center, FastBack, Monitoring, Application Dependency Discovery Manager and Service Management Storage.

“Logicalis consultants are some of the most highly skilled resources in the industry. Customers rely on our extensive capabilities in application, data center, and outsourcing services to deliver secure, instantaneous, and transparent solutions with technology that grows more complex every day,” says Bill Mansfield, IBM Software Solution Architect at Logicalis.

Source:http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/logicalis-earns-ibm-software-value-plus-certification-136699.php

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Asia to reverse IT outsource trend

February 15th, 2010

Spending on IT outsourcing will grow faster among Asian companies than their western counterparts in 2010, Dell Services estimates, reversing the trend of recent years that has seen more western groups buying services from India and China.

Jim Champy, chairman of Dell Services’ consulting practice, says IT outsourcing is set to rise in Asian markets as the region’s companies begin to modernise their business processes and technology systems in a build-out that could last decades.

“We see, as most providers do, the Asian markets growing faster – clearly more than Europe, and certainly faster than the United States,” Mr Champy told the Financial Times.

“What it would feel like to me is two to three times faster, percentage-wise.”

His comments come as the IT and business process outsourcing industry, which handles everything from computer systems and software to billing and customer records, is seeking a new direction following the economic crisis.

At India’s principal IT conference last week, organised by the industry body Nasscom, a report by KPMG and the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation predicted a sharp rise in Asia’s share of the world’s IT services spend.

It forecast that Asia will account for 26.3 per cent of the global consumption of IT and business-process outsourcing services in the next decade, up from nearly 20 per cent now.

This increase represents a reversal of the trend, whereby Indian IT companies have sent executives to developed markets to try to steal business from established western outsourcing consultancies, such as IBM and Accenture.

The Indian outsourcing industry has thrived as a result. Over the past two decades, it has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry that Nasscom expects to generate exports of $56bn by March next year.

Source:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/da68826a-19a3-11df-af3e-00144feab49a.html

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IT firms plan new strategies for 2010

February 11th, 2010

Coming out of the shadow of a global slowdown, Indian information technology service providers are preparing themselves for the road ahead by reviewing strategies of the past years and taking note of recent advancements.

India’s  second largest IT company, Infosys Technologies, for instance, has narrowed on the new areas to drive its growth.

Emerging markets is clearly one. It has identified seven themes that include technologies like cloud computing; smart organisations that drive efficiency by using collaboration; specific industry verticals like health care and banking; and sustainability.

“We have been working on some of these aspects over the last two years and we are seeing better clarity now. These are large teams in which we have invested large amounts,” Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, Infosys, told Business Standard at the Nasscom Leadership Forum in Mumbai  on Thursday.

Despite this, he remains cautious. “While we are watchful, I feel the worst is behind us. As an industry, our model is established today. Our market shares are good. Investment in technology will continue to grow globally by 4–5 per cent. From an Infosys point of view, our endeavour has been to be part of that growth and match the industry growth, and we will continue to drive that,” he added.

The industry has begun investing heavily in manpower development, with an average training period of three to four months for fresh recruits and additional training over the employee cycle.

Companies are also set to hire again in 2010. Direct employment by the country’s IT industry is expected to be 2.3 million by March 31, with 90,000 jobs added during the current financial year.

But, they also feel just adding to headcount is no longer enough. Growing this way (termed linear) could pose formidable challenges over the next few years.

Hence, HCL , Tata Consultancy Services , IBM, Infosys, Satyam , Wipro , Genpact, and NIIT  are among those who had implemented a host of non-linear initiatives like the reuse of assets and codes, the creation of templates and intellectual property and the use of platform BPOs.

The concept has been around for over a year, and the platform model is also known as software as a service for BPO.

These initiatives are paying dividends by increasing companies’ operating margins per employee, while simultaneously reducing capital expenditure for their clients, according to analysts.

Platform BPO, for instance, involves a bundling of technology, consulting and BPO, and helps in offering models which can be replicated, with some customisation for new customers instead of reinventing the wheel. Around 40 per cent of all IT services are estimated to come as templates. This helps in saving costs.

Others like Raman Roy, CMD of Quatrro, are going after the small and medium business sector to drive business.

“The company has around 4,000 SMEs as clients and expects a 30 per cent increase in business volume this year,” he said. And, that Quatrro can cut through the outsourcing noise with a large base of SMEs as its clients and by selectively focusing on industries.

Others are diversifying their portfolios. Realising that the US financial sector was slowing, which was nearly 80 per cent of Headstrong’s business, Arjun Malhotra, Chairman & CEO, had to take some tough decisions.

“We had a huge bench (staffers with no work) due to our banking clients pulling out last year and that just led to a steep rise in labour costs. We had to cut staff due to clients who had lost money and no longer needed us,” he said. The company is now looking to widen the client base beyond the top 20 banks it dealt with earlier.

The good news, meanwhile, is that with business picking up, bigger deals are back, too. Salil Parekh, CEO (financial services), Capgemini, said it was beginning to look at winning some large client deals.

Source:http://business.rediff.com/report/2010/feb/11/tech-it-firms-plan-new-strategies-for-2010.htm

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Essex outsourcing champion charged in expenses scandal

February 8th, 2010

Lord Hanningfield, the council leader who championed a multi-billion-pound outsourcing deal with IBM for Essex County Council, has resigned today amidst the MPs expenses scandal.

He is one of four politicians who will face criminal charges over his expenses claims.

Although he denies the charges, Lord Hanningfield is also standing down as shadow transport minister in the House of Lords, and has been suspended from the parliamentary Conservative Party.

Lord Hanningfield has been charged with six cases of false accounting.

He allegedly submitted claims for expenses to which he knew he was not entitled between March 2006 and May 2009. This includes numerous claims for overnight accommodation in London, when records show he drove home and did not stay in the capital.

In a statement, Lord Hanningfield said he would “vigourously” defend himself against the charges.

“I have never claimed more in expenses than I have spent in the course of my duties,” he insisted.

In December 2009, Essex County Council signed an eight-year agreement with IBM to transform its operations and services, and slash costs. It is expected to eventually cost between £2.3 billion and £5.4 billion, dependent upon the services procured.

The council has been criticised for the scale of the project. Essex last November suggested it had learnt lessons from previous outsourcing contracts, possibly including an aborted deal with BT, and that flexibility and clear break clauses were built-in to the IBM deal.

Source:http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=A9215F2E-1A64-67EA-E49C632E65211F26

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New IBM data center designed to support cloud computing

February 6th, 2010

IBM ( IBM) today announced the opening of a new data center designed to support new compute models like cloud computing, in order to help clients from around the world operate smarter businesses, organizations and cities.

The new data center reduces technology infrastructure costs and complexity for clients while improving quality and speeding the deployment of services – using only half the energy required of a similar facility its size. The data center will ultimately total 100,000 square feet at IBM’s Research Triangle Park (RTP) campus and is part of a $362 million investment by the corporation to build the new data center in North Carolina. IBM owns or operates more than 450 data centers worldwide.

Data centers are the backbone of information technology (IT) infrastructure delivery for businesses and other organizations, with powerful servers and storage systems running business-critical technology including software applications, email and web sites. IBM has engineered the data center to help its clients use new Internet technologies and services to meet the business challenges of an environment marked by an exponential rise in computational power, a proliferation of connected devices and an imperative to manage energy costs.

The data center uses advanced software virtualization technologies that enable access to information and services from any device with extremely high levels of availability and quality of experience. The facility aggressively conserves energy resources; saving cost and speeding services deployment through a smart management approach that links equipment, building systems and data center operations.

“I thank IBM for its continued commitment to North Carolina. This facility promises to be one of IBM’s greenest data centers in the world, proving once again that green is gold for North Carolina,” Gov. Bev Perdue said. “Growing North Carolina’s green economy plays a critical role in my mission to create jobs and to ensure our state’s economy is poised to be globally competitive in the long term.”

The data center is showcasing a cloud computing solution in partnership with North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and NC State University that enables Hillside New Tech High School students in Durham, NC to access educational materials and software applications for the classroom over the Internet from the high school’s computer lab, as well as from any networked device. This means that the learning environment can be extended to nearly any place at any time without the restrictions many schools face such as limited support, hardware resources and lack of access. The Hillside outreach project with NCCU, using cloud computing as a vehicle in support of education, is one of several such K-12 projects that IBM supports. The new data center also currently hosts IBM’s global web site, ibm.com, and the IT operations of strategic outsourcing clients such as the United States Golf Association (USGA).

“Data centers have always been a critical part of IBM’s global technology services – and they will be even more important as the processes, infrastructure, and systems that define business today become increasingly connected and intelligent,” said Pat Kerin, general manager, IBM North America. “This new facility not only sets new standards for energy efficiency, but provides the flexible capacity that allows IBM to deliver services that enable clients to reduce costs, improve productivity, and gain competitive advantage in their markets.”

Alex Withers, managing director of Digital Media for the United States Golf Association, said, “The migration of our USOPEN.com operations to IBM’s new data center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina reduced our energy consumption by 38 percent and floor space requirements by 54 percent. We count on IBM to deliver a cost effective, reliable and scalable hosting environment that supports the presentation of our world-class championships to players and fans.”

Source:http://www.thehostingnews.com/new-ibm-data-center-designed-to-support-cloud-computing-12501.html

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New North Carolina data center is IBM design at its best

February 5th, 2010

IBM unveiled a new data center on its campus in the Research Triangle Park near Raleigh, N.C., Thursday. While the company adds between three and five data centers to its global infrastructure (currently more than 450 data centers total) every year, this facility stands out from the rest.

IBM says the new data center employs some of the most advanced technologies and energy efficiency methods and solutions currently available to it.

“As we design data centers and we continue to mature our level of technology and sophistication, this announcement is something of a new plateau for us,” said IBM’s VP of Global Infrastructure and Resource Manager Joe Dzaluk.

“It’s the combination of everything we’ve done here. It’s utilizing some products that are not yet commercially available from IBM Research…. When you add it all up, we think it’ll make IBM more competitive in the market place.”

Among energy-saving features of the facility – currently going through the LEED evaluation process – are airside economization and continuous monitoring of temperature and humidity with real-time adjustment of cooling capacity according to the monitoring data. The building has a reflective roof to reduce the amount of solar heat it attracts and rainwater is collected for reuse, although not for reuse in the cooling system.

About 95 percent of the original building shell was reused and 92 percent of construction waste was recycled, with 20 percent of new materials made from recycled products.

Net data center floor currently online measures 60,000 square feet, with a total of 6 MW of power. At full build-out, the facility will yield 100,000 square feet of raised floor, powered by 15 MW. Average power density in the currently active space is about 100 watts per square foot.

The data center will be used to provide IT services to IBM’s outsourcing clients and private cloud services. Customers already using the cloud platform include the Hillside New Tech High School in Durham, N.C., IBM’s own Web site ibm.com and the United States Golf Association. Additionally, the company has recently secured six new outsourcing clients.

This is a second IBM data center in the Research Triangle Park. The company operates another 100,000-plus square foot facility on its campus there. IBM expects to invest a total of $362 million in the new facility.

Source:http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=DEA0BCD5D83B458696D7825E80D0517D

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IBM signs 5-yr deal with Sandhar Technologies

February 2nd, 2010

IBM today announced that it has signed a five-year remote managed services outsourcing agreement with Sandhar Technologies, an auto ancillary group based in New Delhi.

The deal will enable the company to align its information technology (IT) initiatives with business priorities thereby ensuring risk mitigation and substantial cost savings, said a press release.

As part of the agreement signed in December 2009, IBM will manage the IT infrastructure for Sandhar Technologies, helping the company focus on its core business while reducing capital expenditure.

The scope of managed services includes server management and network & security management, which will be remotely carried out from IBM’s Global Management Centre in Bangalore, said IBM.

“The business landscape is becoming increasingly competitive and volatile, implying the need for us to be nimble, said Arvind Joshi, CFO, Sandhar Technologies. “It is therefore necessary for us to blend our high dependency on IT with business goals, which we feel should be entrusted to a partner like IBM who has demonstrated domain expertise and technology prowess.”

Sandhar Technologies, a US$ $164 million diversified auto ancillary group, has 18 manufacturing plants and 3200 employees, the release added.

Ashish Kumar, VP and general manager, Global Technology Services, IBM India/South Asia, said the auto ancillary industry in India has tremendous growth potential.

“The domestic market players are beginning to play a significant role in the global automotive supply chain and are relying heavily on IT to ensure operational efficiency and increase revenues. With our deep expertise in the global market, IBM will help Sandhar Technologies in its technology adoption roadmap and will bring to them best practices that will enable them to be effective competitors in the global landscape,” he said.

Source:http://www.ciol.com/News/News-Reports/IBM-signs-5-yr-deal-with-Sandhar-Technologies/2210130869/0/

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IBM partners with Convergys for US Census BPO

January 27th, 2010

IBM has signed a business process outsourcing (BPO) contract with Convergys to provide customer service and data accuracy services for the upcoming 2010 US census, in a project that will need more than 1,500 agents.

As part of the outsourcing deal, Convergys’ contact centre agents will call citizens who have submitted incomplete or inaccurate census questionnaires to improve data accuracy.

“For government funding to be done fairly, the Bureau of the Census needs to count everyone, count them once, and count them in the right location,” said Jim Boyce, Convergys President, Global Sales and Services.

The Bureau of the Census counts all United States residents every 10 years and will mail or deliver census questionnaires to each household in March 2010.

Source:http://www.sourcingfocus.com/index.php/site/newsitem/2098/

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IBM wins Chilean Airlines deal

January 25th, 2010

IBM has won a five-year outsourcing deal from Chile’s LAN Airlines. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Under the deal, the company will provide management, operation and control of LAN’s core IT platform, security services and the execution of an innovation center.

Rafael Guzman, manager of Global Technology Services at IBM Chile, said: “The contract strengthens the business relationship existing between the airline and IBM, which was established when IBM outfitted the new IT solution for LAN’s aircraft maintenance management plan introduced in 2009.”

Source:http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/ibm_ibm-wins-chilean-airlines-deal-724862.html

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Del Monte, IBM sign $3.1M IT service deal

January 25th, 2010

In its effort to bring down cost and boost efficiency, Del Monte Philippines, Inc., has tapped IBM’s technology expertise via smart IT and Data Center outsourcing solutions.

The company’s shift allows it to focus on a more strategic IT roadmap aimed at supporting a five-year revenue projection while addressing the growing costs of managing and supporting IT operations.

Likewise, the move to IBM, addresses the business demands of greater availability and higher service performance as Del Monte is now able to swing their capital expenditure (capex) to purely operational expenditure (opex) with their SAP migration infrastructure particularly on the infrastructure.

The two contracts worth approximately US$3.1 million covering a five-year period were signed in 2009.

The first is a total IT infrastructure services outsourcing contract. Under the Service Level Agreement, IBM provides management for the food giant’s Data Center, Servers/Storage, Network, DMS, Helpdesk, IT Asset & Vendor Management.

The second contract covers management of an outsourced SAP Infrastructure ( servers, storage, Data Center facility & Disaster Recovery site) for Del Monte’s migration to SAP ECC 6.0 while maintaining the asset ownership of the said Infrastructure.

Del Monte’s Cesar Canlas, chief information officer (CIO) said IBM liberated funding for direct savings and increased the company’s IT efficiency in its day-to-day operations. The company’s productivity and business growth are expected to be enhanced.

“Our clients recognize that in today’s business environment, technology is the differentiator which can provide a valuable competitive edge,” said James Velasquez, Country General Manager, IBM Philippines

Source:http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=543699&publicationSubCategoryId=108

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IBM Sees Growth In Software, Services

January 21st, 2010

Solid fourth quarter results posted Tuesday by bellwether IBM are the latest sign that growth in the tech industry has resumed.

The company reported a slight year-over-year gain of .8% in overall sales, but key lines like software and tech services enjoyed more robust increases.

“We concluded a strong year with a solid performance in the fourth quarter in which we again delivered growth in margins, profits, and earnings,” said IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, in a statement.

IBM saw the strongest gains in sales of middleware, which is software that allows business systems to talk to each other and which provides a foundation for advanced IT architectures like cloud computing and software-as-a-service.

Sales of IBM’s Websphere middleware product rose 13%, the company said, while its overall software sales climbed 2.4%.

IBM also enjoyed a return to growth in its outsourcing business, which had stalled due to the economic downturn. Big Blue’s Global Technology Services unit saw a 4.4% jump in sales during the fourth quarter.

The outsourcing industry overall appears to be rebounding from 2009, when sales of tech services were the lowest in a decade. The total contract value of all outsourcing deals signed in the fourth quarter was 8% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to market watcher TPI.

IBM didn’t fare as well on the hardware side, where sales continued to suffer in the face of the downturn and commoditization.

The company’s Systems & Technology group reported a 4.3% decline in revenue, with sales of System p Unix and Linux servers off 14% and sales of System z mainframes down 27%. Sales of x86-based System x servers, however, enjoyed a 37% increase.

Palmisano last week moved long-time software executive Ambuj Goyal to hardware in an effort to shake up the group.

IBM’s overall net income for the fourth quarter rose 8.7%, to $4.8 billion, while earnings per share increased 9.8%, to $3.59. Total revenue was up .8%, to $27.2 billion.

For the full-year 2009, IBM reported revenue of $95.7 billion, down 7.6% from 2008. Net income jumped 8.8%, to $13.4 billion, while EPS rose 12.6%, to $10.01. IBM said it expects EPS for 2010 to come in at $11.00.

IBM shares were off 2.74%, to $130.46, in late afternoon trading Wednesday as markets traded sharply lower.

Source:http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/integration/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222301705

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Sony to Outsource Part of its Business Processes to IBM Japan

January 21st, 2010

Sony announced that it will outsource a part of the human resources and accounting operation services of Sony and certain of its subsidiaries in Japan to IBM Japan.

The companies said that Sony is undertaking steps on a global scale to execute structural transformation to achieve profitability improvement and optimize business processes.

In connection with the above-mentioned outsourcing decision, Sony, IBM Japan and Manpower Japan Co. have agreed to establish a joint venture. The joint venture will be formed by splitting a part of the human resources service operations from Sony Human Capital, which currently undertakes human resources service, business travel and insurance operations mainly for Sony Group in Japan.

IBM Japan will provide its human resources
and accounting operation services to Sony Group in Japan using the new joint venture as its base in Japan and IBM Global Delivery Center in Dalian, China as its base outside Japan.

Source:http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/ibm_sony-to-outsource-part-of-its-business-processes-to-ibm-japan-716887.html

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IBM raises outlook but investors wary after rally

January 21st, 2010

IBM raised its 2010 profit target and reported a stronger-than-expected 9% increase in fourth-quarter earnings, as cost cuts and a shift to more profitable contracts helped it weather a slump in corporate spending.

IBM’s share price fell 2% after the results, however, as the results failed to encourage more buying in the shares which already rallied nearly 60% in the past year.

Some analysts said International Business Machines Corp (IBM) had set a high bar for itself, noting that the world’s leading technology services company has not missed earnings estimates since 2005.

“I think there were some pretty big expectations built in, and you really needed to wow it,” Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan, said after the results were issued on Tuesday.

Ted Parrish, co-portfolio manager at Henssler Equity Fund, added: “While I think the long-term prospects for the company are good, I think the shares are a bit frothy, not overvalued but I would say the stock isn’t going to do as well as it did in 2009.”

While IBM’s results failed to excite Wall Street, they added to evidence that corporate technology spending is recovering, coming just days after another technology powerhouse, Intel Corp, posted results that topped expectations.

The strong numbers also show IBM’s efforts to cut costs and shift from commoditised hardware to services and software businesses are paying dividends, analysts said.

Today, it is the world’s largest IT services company, providing technology outsourcing, automation and support. Such contracts have not only helped boost IBM’s profitability, but they have also helped shelter the company from the worst of the global economic crisis.

IBM said it now expects profit of at least US$11 a share in 2010 compared with its previous target of US$10 to US$11 per share.

IBM’s fourth-quarter profit rose 9% to US$4.8bil, or US$3.59 a share, from US$4.4bil, or $3.27 a share, a year earlier.

Quarterly revenue rose 1% to US$27.2bil, surpassing estimates, and IBM forecast more revenue growth in the first quarter. — Reuters

Analysts said they were particularly impressed, if not surprised, by the quarterly gross profit margin of 48.3%, up 0.4 points, in the quarter.

“IBM is just a machine. Throughout the downturn, they have provided consistent results and this is no different,” said Andy Miedler, an analyst with Edward Jones.

Source:http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/21/business/5511657&sec=business

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IBM CFO Offers 7 Key Insights In Earnings Analysis

January 20th, 2010

IBM CFO Mark Loughridge offered some intriguing perspectives on IBM’s strong performance for the quarter and the year, and those perspectives should be considered by CIOs seeking to get a tighter grasp on today’s business-technology challenges and opportunities. We’ll take a look at 7 of those viewpoints.

1) “We see growing opportunity around the world, much of which is outside the traditional IT opportunity, to help our clients drive efficiency in their physical infrastructures,” said Loughridge, according to a transcript of the earnings call offered on SeekingAlpha.com. Interesting choice of words there: “outside the traditional IT opportunity.” Two thoughts on that: first, as you look at your own business, are you seeing it only as it has traditionally been? Are you thinking about only traditional opportunities for your company, although the world has changed a great deal in the past couple of years? And second: as you consider what you want and need from your IT suppliers in 2010, are you asking or requiring any of them to help you think about possibilities “outside the traditional IT opportunity” that could enhance the value that your IT team offers to your company?

2) “Application Outsourcing signings were up 65% at actual rates and 55% at constant currency” for the quarter, Loughridge said. “For the full year, signings were up 25% at constant currency.” So while many IBM clients throughout 2009 were looking to outsource their applications, the strong year-long trend really boomed in the fourth quarter with those huge jumps in signings. So in looking at the applications-outsourcing category overall and not just at that part of IBM’s business, is there something to this surge in turning to outside partners to run, manage, and maintain your apps? Is it something you’ve evaluated—or should have? Is it just a play for cost savings? Or, as important as that cost savings are, could it also allow you to reduce operational complexity and plow more of your precious resources toward growth initiatives and away from the internal-spending side of the 80/20 ratio?

3) “Business Analytics continues to be a key growth area,” Loughride said. “Cognos posted strong double-digit growth and gained share providing a proof point on analytics demand in the market.” Loughridge returned to this theme at multiple points during his discussion with the analysts, repeatedly stressing the strategic and high-level contributions business analytics are making and that predictive analytics will make in the future. At one point he said, “When we look at business analytics we think that opportunity is going to be as big as TRM (trading and risk management) or ERP.” He also underscored IBM’s 14 related acquisitions totalling $10 billion over the past several years as a key element in its transformation away from low-margin businesses and into high-value areas that give customers new capabilities. How about you: have you made predictive analytics a key priority for 2010, or do you believe your CEO will be satisfied with trying to guess the future?

4) “System P has gained share in 10 of the last 12 quarters,” Loughridge said. “In the fourth quarter our success with competitive UNIX displacements continued with almost 200 competitive wins totaling nearly $200 million in the quarter.” So, reports of the death of IBM’s hardware business have been greatly exaggerated, and its ongoing gains against Unix installations during the hard times of 2009 underscore the need for CIOs to leverage the enhanced buying power they have these days to do everything possible to lower the cost of infrastructure and liberate money from keeping the lights on so that it can be applied toward revenue-growth projects.

5) “One of the trends that we saw in the fourth quarter that was quite encouraging is the performance of smaller deals,” Loughridge said in the SeekingAlpha.com transcript. “That is, smaller deals across our hardware business, our software businesses, our services business both in major markets and [inaudible] in our growth markets. Number one, smaller deals are a significant portion of our total revenue stream but I think what we are seeing in smaller deals have been more characteristic of a leading indicator.” Nice to hear someone talk about “leading indicators” in a positive context. Are you and your team taking steps to help your company optimize small-deal opportunities?

6) “Frankly underneath that the retail industry saw growth for the first time in seven quarters,” Loughridge said. “As we said, if you look at public sector it had the strongest performance in the quarter and for the year.” He added that “we had growth in healthcare and life sciences that marked an 11th consecutive quarter of growth.” Again, discussions of growth—and not only in sectors like healthcare where it’s been happening for some time, but also in troubled areas like retail. If you’ve had your team and its capabilities in suspended animation for the past 18 months while your budget’s been hacked, this is a pretty powerful wake-up call because when your CEO says it’s time to fire up all those great ideas that have been on hold for a couple of years, it probably won’t be a good career move to reply that you’ll need six months to unthaw everything.

7) “The thing you clearly saw though is the difference between major-market performance and growth-market performance actually expanded in the quarter to about a nine-point differential,” Loughridge said, emphasizing that declining revenue from Russia has stabilized. Nine points—that’s pretty significant—are you and your team helping your company leverage this growth-market potential in India, China, Brazil, and Russia?

Source:http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/security/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=XRIKJZFJZ4151QE1GHRSKH4ATMY32JVN?articleID=222301613&pgno=1&queryText=&isPrev=

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IBM Consulting Sales Drop; 2010 Profit Forecast Tops Target

January 20th, 2010

International Business Machines Corp., the world’s largest computer-services company, reported that fourth-quarter business-consulting revenue declined while saying 2010 profit will top its earlier target.

Sales of business services, which include consulting, fell 2.8 percent to $4.58 billion, the company said yesterday in a statement. Profit in 2010 will be at least $11 a share. IBM set a goal in May 2007 for earnings of $10 to $11 this year.

IBM’s business customers, still reining in costs in the wake of the recession, aren’t resuming consulting contracts as quickly as other technology spending. Still, Armonk, New York- based IBM’s focus on its more-profitable software and services divisions has helped it boost earnings.

“The consulting business is lumpy and choppy,” said Andy Miedler, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. in St. Louis. “This is going to be an area that takes time to rebound a bit. The consulting is the more discretionary part of the business.”

IBM shares dropped 2 percent in late trading to $131.47 after climbing $2.36 to $134.14, the highest closing price in more than a decade, on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares gained 56 percent last year.

Miedler, who has a buy rating on the stock and doesn’t own it, said the shares also fell because the forecast was built into expectations. Paul Meeks, a principal at Winsor Asset Management, agreed, calling yesterday’s report “incremental good news” in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

“It’s just a stock where they always beat the numbers. It’s no surprise,” said the Mount Pleasant, South Carolina- based Meeks, who called the shares expensive. “They always leave a little powder dry to beat the numbers in the next period.”

Fourth-Quarter Results

While consulting services dropped, IBM said sales of technology services, which include outsourcing, gained 4.4 percent to $10.1 billion. Software sales rose 2.4 percent last quarter to $6.58 billion.

Hardware sales fell 4.3 percent to $5.19 billion, the smallest drop since the hardware division’s revenue started declining in the third quarter of 2008.

IBM’s fourth-quarter profit amounted to $4.81 billion, or $3.59 a share, compared with $4.43 billion, or $3.27, a year earlier. Analysts projected $3.47 a share. Sales advanced 0.8 percent to $27.2 billion.

The company cut costs in the period by 5.1 percent, helped by a 58 percent reduction in interest expenses.

IBM, once the largest computer company, has spent the past decade selling off what executives call “commoditized” hardware units, such as the personal-computer group, to invest in the more profitable businesses of software and services.

Profit Margins

Those divisions helped expand gross profit margins, the percentage of sales left after costs, for nine straight quarters. It reached 48.3 percent last quarter, up from 38.8 percent at the end of 2002, the year Chief Executive Officer Sam Palmisano took the helm. IBM also boosted profitability by cutting at least 10,000 jobs last year, shifting work overseas and standardizing software across different services.

Analysts projected 2010 profit of $10.90 a share, based on the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The growth rate in sales in the first quarter will be 4 percent to 5 percent more than last quarter’s rate, Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said yesterday on a conference call. That amounts to as much as $23 billion. Analysts estimated an average of $22.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg survey.

‘Slow-Moving Ship’

“IBM’s a relatively slow-moving ship, but directionally things are getting better,” said Rob Cihra, an analyst at Caris & Co. in New York. “Even through what just turned out to be one of the worst tech years in memory, it’s remarkable how well IBM’s earnings held.”

Cihra rates the shares “above average” and doesn’t own any.

IBM follows Intel Corp. as the second technology bellwether in a week to release a forecast that topped estimates. Global information-technology spending will climb 8.1 percent this year, according to Forrester Research Inc.

Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, forecast first- quarter sales of about $9.7 billion as consumers and businesses resume spending on laptops and other technology.

Source:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=afOTBfNXPfcU

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Wall St sets bar higher for IBM in 2010

January 18th, 2010

IBM’s quarterly results should show a solid recovery in technology spending, but investors will likely want reassurance of stronger growth in 2010 before pushing its stock price much higher.

Shares of International Business Machines Corp have risen almost 60 percent in the past year as the company sidestepped the worst of the downturn by cutting costs and shifting its business mix to more profitable services and software.

“We do not expect the kind of upside that we’ve had in the past,” said Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek, who recommends holding the stock. “The sell-side in general, we over-estimated the impact of the recession and under-estimated IBM’s ability to cut costs.”

Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey held a similar view on IBM’s results, which are due on Tuesday.

“While we expect a solid December-quarter report from IBM, we do not think the results will serve as a major catalyst for the stock in either direction, given heightened expectations,” he said in a report.

Analysts on average expect IBM to report fourth-quarter revenue of around $27 billion, roughly flat from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Profit per share is seen rising to $3.47 from $3.27 a year earlier, with full-year earnings of $9.88. The company has forecast earnings of at least $9.85 a share.

But the main focus will be on IBM’s 2010 outlook. Its last forecast was for earnings per share of around $10 to $11.

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said he expects IBM to forecast “at least $11.00″ for the full year.

“We note that IBM’s playbook over the last two years has been to set achievable guidance and raise it,” he said, citing IBM’s record of beating consensus EPS in each of the last eight quarters and repeatedly raising guidance.

SMARTER PLANET

While the global economic downturn certainly dented profit in 2009, IBM managed to weather the worst of the recession by reducing costs and shifting focus from hardware to IT software and services, which has helped bolster margins.

Today, it is the world’s largest IT services provider. Technology outsourcing, automation and support are some of the areas that remained relatively strong during the downturn, as companies sought ways to improve cost efficiency.

While many analysts warned not to expect too much from Tuesday’s results, there were some who believe IBM shares could still be bound for more gains, particularly if the global economic recovery turns out to be stronger than expected.

Sacconaghi, for example, has an “outperform” rating and $155 price target on the stock, which traded 0.5 percent lower at $131.62 late on Friday afternoon.

One key focus is corporate technology spending, which has lagged behind an upturn in the consumer segment.

Some were also bullish about the company’s longer-term strategies. Those include its “smarter planet” initiative, which aims to combine IBM’s software and services with its budding analytics business, helping governments and companies like utilities run operations more efficiently.

But some analysts pointed to long-term risks as well, including the emergence of new rivals like Cisco Systems Inc in servers. While software and services account for a majority of the company’s revenue, servers remain an key and integral part of its sales.

Cisco announced last year that it was entering the server market, a move that put it in direct competition with IBM as well as Hewlett-Packard Co.

IBM, for its part, has stepped up its partnership with Cisco’s smaller rival, Juniper Networks Inc.

Source:http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Wall+St+sets+bar+higher+for+IBM+in+2010&artid=2208xEYjfWk=&SectionID=XT7e3Zkr/lw=&MainSectionID=XT7e3Zkr/lw=&SectionName=HFdYSiSIflu29kcfsoAfeg==&SEO=

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New IBM business process delivery center opens in Egypt

January 16th, 2010

The inauguration was witnessed by Dr. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology and a group of government officials. Also present at the event were an IBM delegation, headed by Peter Lynt, General Manager, Global Business Process Delivery, Amr Ghoneim, General Manager IBM Egypt, and. David Brooks, BPD Center Leader.

This is the first time IBM has operated in Smart Village Cairo. The new BPDC, a critical component of IBM’s network of global services delivery centers, will focus specifically on delivering outsourced business process services for IBM’s finance and accounting clients.

“IBM corporation is perceived as the technological partner of the Egyptian government,” said Dr Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology. “This partnership was reinforced by the visit of IBM’s Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano in September 2008 where he met with President Mubarak. During his visit, Palmisno witnesses partnership initiatives by the Egyptian Government and IBM. Today IBM isn’t being looked at as a software, information systems, and services provider but as a partner that is investing in the implementation of the Ministry’s strategy in the field of outsourcing industry and investing in R&D.”

Skilled Egyptian workers are currently being trained and hired to deliver services that range from business process outsourcing through back-office and transaction processing operations, to technical support and call center operations.

“IBM is pleased to open its new center located in Smart Village Cairo,” said Amr Ghoneim, General Manager, IBM Egypt. “Egypt is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and one of the most attractive growth markets for business. IBM’s decision to locate a Business Process Services Delivery Center here recognizes the importance of Egypt to our services delivery network as well as other factors like cultural compatibility and the availability of highly-educated professionals.”

The agreement to establish the BPD Center is the outcome of a joint collaboration between IBM and The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), the executive IT arm of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The center agreement was signed in March 2009 in the presence of many government officials, headed by Dr. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, ITIDA officials and representatives of IBM Corporation. The Center supports the Egyptian government’s plans to focus on job creation through multiple projects.

Source:http://www.ameinfo.com/221252.html

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Sony to Outsource a Part of its Business Processes to IBM Japan

January 15th, 2010

Sony Corporation (”Sony”) today announced that it will outsource a part of the human resources and accounting operation services of Sony and certain of its subsidiaries in Japan (collectively, “Sony Group in Japan”) to IBM Japan, Ltd. (”IBM Japan”).

Sony is undertaking steps on a global scale to execute structural transformation to achieve profitability improvement and optimize business processes. Sony made the decision to outsource a part of its business processes announced today as a part of these initiatives, and through this outsourcing in strong partnership with IBM Japan, Sony int to further improve the efficiency of its operations and accelerate its transformation initiatives.

In connection with the above-mentioned outsourcing decision, Sony, IBM Japan and Manpower Japan Co., Ltd. (”Manpower Japan”) have agreed to establish a joint venture. The joint venture will be formed by splitting a part of the human resources service operations from Sony Human Capital Corporation (”Sony Human Capital”), which currently undertakes human resources service, business travel and insurance operations mainly for Sony Group in Japan.

IBM Japan will provide its human resources and accounting operation services to Sony Group in Japan using the new joint venture as its base in Japan and IBM Global Delivery Center in Dalian, China as its base outside Japan.

Source:http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/sony-to-outsource-a-part,1121524.shtml

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