Showing posts with label IBM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IBM. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

, ,

IBM bags Nomura's IT services deal

IBM announced that Nomura Services India Private Limited, a subsidiary of leading financial services group Nomura, would implement IBM's end-to-end business continuity and resiliency services to bolster its business continuity, disaster and system failure response strategies.

The multi-year IT services agreement would also provide Nomura Services with an in-city work area recovery solution to recover critical business functions in the event of an interruption at a primary site, an IBM press release said.

"This will help Nomura Services effectively respond to crisis scenarios that may have the potential of causing major disruption to its business", it said.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

,

IBM proposes cut in pension

After being in news for another round of layoffs recently, IBM's back in news this time for change in its pension policies.

IBM is reportedly proposing to close its final salary pension scheme to its current UK and Ireland staff. UNITE, the largest trade union in the UK, has reportedly warned the IT company of 'backlash' from thousands of employees over its decision which is likely to affect some quarter of its workforce. IBM UK has around 18,000 employees.

The news is said to have made hundreds of angry IBM employees join UNITE to fight IBM's decision to alter its pension scheme.

IBM closed the defined benefit, or final salary, pension plan to new employees a few years ago. The company says the move is to help the company "maintain competitiveness" in the tough economic climate.

Employees on final salary pensions are guaranteed a pension at the end of their career based earnings and length of service. Employees on a contribution scheme put money into an investment fund, which is used to buy a annual pension.

According to Unite's calculation employees in their mid-50s could lose up to £200,000 as a result of these changes compared with the retirement pension they had expected to draw before this announcement in July.

Recently, Japanese giant Fujitsu also announced its proposal to close its final salary scheme.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

, , ,

Bharti IT contract: TCS, Wipro, IBM, Tech Mah short-listed

Four Indian IT majors have been short-listed for Bharti Airtel's IT contract, reports CNBC-TV18, quoting sources. The shortlisted companies include Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, IBM, and Tech Mahindra. Bharti Airtel's IT contract is valued at USD 500 million, for which 10 IT firms had bid.

When contacted, Bharti Airtel was unavailable for comment. The outsourcing contract is for management of inter-city fibre network. IBM is currently working on a USD 100 million IT contract for Airtel.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

,

IBM layoffs to touch 16,000

IBM layoffs may touch 16,000 by the year end, claims employee group Alliance@IBM. In a news report, Alliance said that it has counted about 184 employees who have been laid off in the most recent round of cuts, based on employee information packets it received so far. However, it believes the number exceeds that, according to Lee Conrad, the union's national coordinator.

Commenting on the layoffs, an IBM spokesperson reportedly said in a note that IBM is constantly managing resources as client demands evolve across a base of nearly 400,000 employees.

In January, Alliance@IBM estimated that as many as 16,000 employees may be cut by the end of 2009, and the group is standing by that figure. Based on its count so far, at least 10,000 job have already been cut.

IBM recently posted second-quarter earnings that trumped Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year profit forecast.

Recently Citi analyst Richard Gardner raised his target price on IBM to $135 from $125. In a research note, he said that IBM will save $500 million more this year than it had anticipated.

The company said in March it wanted to cut costs by $3 billion. But it has slashed expenses by $1.5 billion thus far, with another $2 billion coming later in the year.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

,

IBM union: Layoffs could hit 16,000 by year's end

IBM's job cuts, in most cases, appear incremental and regular
Source: ComputerWorld
There's always a little bit of stealth to IBM's workforce reductions. Layoffs are usually scattered across the country and in numbers small enough to avoid triggering state and federal mass layoff notification laws. And so it was this week, as IBM cut employees from its Global Business Services unit.

IBM never comments on its cuts, the size or locations. It never says anything more about the reason for its reductions than it did today, in a note sent via a spokesman: "IBM is constantly managing resources as client demands evolve across a base of nearly 400,000 employees."

This means that the best information on IBM's workforce reduction in the U.S. come from two sources: The company's own annual report, which shows the year-to-year changes in its U.S. workforce, and the Alliance@IBM.

The Alliance says it has counted about 184 employees who have been laid off in the most recent round of cuts, based on employee information packets it received so far. But it believes the number exceeds that, according to Lee Conrad, the union's national coordinator.

In January, Conrad estimated that as many as 16,000 employees may be cut this year and it's standing by that figure. Based on its count so far, at least 10,000 employees have already been culled from the workforce because of the recession and offshoring.

"It is not right that IBM continues to keep job cut numbers, locations and divisions secret," said Conrad in an email. "IBM needs to come clean on how many jobs are being terminated as the work is offshored. We call for full transparency." The Alliance@IBM is a Communications Workers of America local that doesn't have enough members to gain official recognition as a bargaining unit.

IBM's annual report, which is due out next winter, will likely sum up the net impact of the company's shrinking U.S. workforce. In 2006, IBM employed 127,000 in the U.S; in 2007, 121,000; and last year, 115,000. Meanwhile, its employment in India, Brazil and other nations has been increasing.

Laid-off employees receive a 30-plus page package that includes what appears to be IBM's standard severance package. The last few pages of these packets usually include a listing of the job title being cut, employee ages and the number of people at a particular age. For instance, "SR Managing Consultant (MGR) 36(1), 37(1), 47(1), 53(1), 57(1), and 59(1). Or Assoc Partner Sales, Mgmt Auth 35(2), 37(1), 38(3), 39(1), 41(1), 46(2), 47(1), 48(1), 49(1), 52(3), 53(1), 55(1), and 56(1)."
,

More layoffs at IBM

There has been another round of layoffs at IBM, according to media reports. According to a report in the Poughkeepsie Journal, IBM this week confirmed laying off a "small number" of employees.

IBM reportedly made the admission after the employee group Alliance@IBM told media that Big Blue had laid off about 200 US workers in its Global Business Services division.

"The IBM US employee population continues to shrink through job cuts and offshoring," Alliance@IBM national organizer Lee Conrad was quoted as saying.

The layoffs aren't nearly as severe as those revealed in March, when IBM reportedly laid off 5,000 US employees, while transferring many of the jobs to India.

IBM recently posted second-quarter earnings that trumped Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year profit forecast.

Recently Citi analyst Richard Gardner raised his target price on IBM to $135 from $125. In a research note, he said that IBM will save $500 million more this year than it had anticipated.

The company said in March it wanted to cut costs by $3 billion. But it has slashed expenses by $1.5 billion thus far, with another $2 billion coming later in the year.
,

HP And IBM Snatch Hundreds Of Sun Customers

Hewlett-Packard and IBM are aggressively picking off huge numbers of Sun customers as Oracle remains tied up in discussions with antitrust regulators over its pending acquisition of Sun. HP has been brazenly exploiting Oracle's status in legal limbo with messages saying, "HP To Sun Customers: We've Got Your Back."

While Oracle's legal team has been attempting to ensure U.S. and European regulators that it will not inhibit its competitors from having full access to Sun's widely used Java programming language, "Hewlett-Packard says it persuaded more than 100 Sun customers to buy HP's servers and storage systems in the past six months," reports the the San Jose Mercury News website.

And IBM, whose equally aggressive message to Sun customers has been "Don't settle for an uncertain future," has also been blitzing those accounts, according to the mercurynews.com: "IBM Vice President Scott Handy said this week that his company had more than 250 sales "wins," in which Sun customers chose IBM products in the first half of 2009, with most coming in the second quarter."
Source: InformationWeek

Friday, August 7, 2009

, , ,

Oracle, IBM and Satyam among tax defaulters

State owned telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), Tata Communications, Oracle, Nokia, IBM, and Mahindra Satyam are figured in the list of top 100 tax defaulters in the country.

Disclosing the list of defaulters in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Finance SS Palanimanickam said in a written reply that top 100 tax defaulters owe to the exchequer whopping Rs.1.41 lakh crore - more than three times the amount the government spends on National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) scheme annually to provide employment to below poverty line (BPL) families.

BSNL owes Rs.2,417 crore to the government; Tata Communications has a tax demand of about Rs.505.5 crore. Oracle's tax due is Rs.558 crore, while Nokia owes Rs.448 crore, Mahindra Satyam has to pay Rs.290 crore to the exchequer. IBM's tax due is to the tune of Rs.208 crore.

The list also includes the country's largest state-owned bank SBI, automobile giant Tata Motors, oil major Indian Oil Corporation, Coca Cola India, stock broker Late Harshad Mehta and his associates and other brokers like A D Narrotam and Hiten Dalal.

As per the list, disgraced stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan tops the list of tax defaulters with an outstanding arrear of more than Rs.50,000 crore. The Minister said that these tax demands also include those which are difficult to recover for various reasons like demands notified under special court, inadequate assets and companies under litigation.

The Centre is taking various steps to recover the outstanding dues. The government has requested the adjudicating authorities like Incomet Tax appellate Tibunal (ITAT) and settlement commission "to dispose of high demand cases expeditious," Palanimanickam said.

However, among special measures being taken by the government to expedite recovery of default taxes includes monitoring of the recovery of amount in large cases by a Task Force. "Invariably arrear demand above Rs.25 crore is monitored by Central Board of Direct Taxes CBDT and between 10 crore and 25 crore by CCIT/DIT (Recovery)," Palanimanickam said.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

IBM to buy analytics company for $1.2 billion

International Business Machines Corp plans to buy technology services company SPSS Inc for about $1.2 billion in cash, the companies said on Tuesday.

SPSS shareholders will receive $50 a share, a 42 percent premium to Monday's closing price of $35.09 on Nasdaq. Chicago-based SPSS provides predictive analytics software and services. Predictive analytics are used by companies to forecast future trends and spot shifts in consumer patterns, helping them control costs and use resources more wisely.

IBM said the deal will help expand its Information on Demand software portfolio and business analytics capabilities.

Shares of SPSS jumped 41 per cent in premarket trade to about $49.50. The shares had already enjoyed a gain of about 30 per cent this year.

The deal values SPSS at about 25 times analysts' estimated 2010 earnings per share, and the $50 per share price represents an all-time high for the stock, topping its previous all-time top of $47.87.

The deal is subject to SPSS shareholder approval and regulatory clearances, and is expected to close later in the second half of 2009, the companies said.

Separately, IBM said it has acquired closely-held Ounce Labs Inc, whose software helps companies reduce the risks and costs associated with security and compliance concerns. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Back in May, IBM's chief financial officer, Mark Loughridge, told the Reuters Technology Summit that the valuations of potential acquisition targets were attractive. IBM has spent $20 billion buying more than 100 companies since 2000, paying prices that range from as little as $50 million to as much as $5 billion.
,

Tally, IBM join hands for a slice of SMB market

Indian enterprise software maker Tally Solutions will soon bundle its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution with IBM’s hardware systems in order to address the lucrative small and medium business (SMB) market.

Both the companies will jointly address the Indian SMB market, senior officials told ET on Tuesday.

“Mid-market has always been a growth engine for IBM and we have made around $100 million investments for growing this market globally,” said IBM Smart Business VP Juhi Jotwani.

Tally’s ERP package, which was launched around four months ago, is close to touching a customer base of around 100,000.

The new alliance will see IBM providing all the necessary hardware, software and services, which can be customised to the requirements of the market place at a starting price of less than Rs 5 lakh.

“This joint offering will address the scale of the Indian market. We expect another 20,000 enterprises to implement ERP packages in the near future,” said Tally Solutions MD Bharat Goenka. “Tally’s ERP package will be coming under IBM’s Smart Cube initiative, which will complete turnkey package,” added Ms Jotwani.

IBM will explore different selling models for this joint package, which will either be direct, hosted or even on a monthly basis.

At a time when large enterprises have tightened their IT budgets, SMBs are offering lucrative opportunities. In a recent study, IBM found that even in tough economic conditions, over 50% of Indian mid-market business decision makers expect their IT budgets to increase in 2009 versus past year.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

,

IBM to offer IT education tourism in India

IBM today announced the launch of an education programme that it said would enable IT professionals and students to come to India and receive IBM certified training here.

To avail of this offer, an individual needs to register for a course from the IBM Power and IBM System Storage Curriculum, the company said in a statement.

All visa formalities, tickets and accommodation requirements are arranged and facilitated by an IBM training partner, it said.

The IT education tourism programme, slated to start next month, is a unique initiative where IBM has partnered with Stratom IT Solutions, India to introduce IT education tourism as a package for global students and IT professionals.

IBM plans to target around 300 participants in India for a minimum of 30 days this year.

As part of the programme, IBM would offer a comprehensive portfolio of technical training and education services for systems designed for individuals, companies and public organisations to acquire, maintain, and optimise their IT skills, the statement added.

Friday, July 24, 2009

, , , , ,

Indian IT cos bid against MNC rivals for $1-bn BP deals

India’s offshore outsourcing firms, including TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Mahindra Satyam, have locked horns with MNC rivals IBM and Accenture for up to $1 billion worth of outsourcing contracts to be awarded in August by British Petroleum (BP).

BP, which currently outsources a majority of its application development, system integration and infrastructure management projects to almost 30 suppliers including IBM, Accenture, Mahindra Satyam and Infosys, wants to bring down its IT costs by up to 30% by working with fewer vendors handling more work, at lower rates.

“Every BP business unit at BP was running its IT operations separately, with a different set of suppliers. This led to complexity and a higher cost of operations. With this consolidation, BP now wants to work with not more than six vendors globally,” said a UK-based expert familiar with BP’s sourcing strategy. He requested anonymity as he is not authorised to comment about the contracts.

When contacted by ET last week, a BP spokesman confirmed that the supplier review is nearing its end. “Yes, we have been reviewing our strategic IT providers, and are getting close to the end of that process, but I can’t confirm numbers of the current or possible future providers,” said spokesman Robert Wine.

Sridhar Vedala, MD of sourcing advisory firm Quantum Step, says customers are now breaking down their requirements into infrastructure management, application development and maintenance, and are selecting vendors according to their competencies. “A few years ago, ABN Amro undertook a similar exercise,” he added.

While customers in the US, the top market for Indian companies, are scaling back on outsourcing, British firms will spend around $15.6 billion this year, according to research firm Ovum-Datamonitor.

While Mahindra Satyam counts BP as one of its $40-50 million customers, Accenture and IBM currently have a lion’s share of the outsourcing pie, estimated to be anywhere between $300 million and $400 million.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

,

IBM sees better profits for `09

IBM sharply raised its full-year earnings forecast as it benefits from focusing more on higher-margin businesses in software and services, sending its shares up as much as 3 per cent.

The outlook and stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings, coming on the heels of Intel's stellar results this week, may signal that the worst could be over for the hard-hit technology sector, some analysts say.

Others point out that IBM managed to boost profits mainly by cutting costs and decreasing its dependence on hardware -- an area that has bore the brunt of the worldwide downturn in technology spending.

International Business Machines Corp said it now expects 2009 earnings of at least $9.70 per share, up from its previous outlook of $9.20. The company said it was ahead of its plan of achieving $10 to $11 earnings per share in 2010.

"This, combined with Intel's results, is pushing me to be more optimistic," said Kim Caughey, senior analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. "Seeing they made it on the bottom line, and were pretty darned close on the top line, it gives me confidence looking at technology in general."

Leading chipmaker Intel unveiled stronger-than-expected earnings and outlook this week, bolstering hopes that the worst of the industry's downturn had passed.

Analysts said IBM's higher outlook took the disappointment out of its lower-than-expected quarterly revenue, which fell 13 per cent to $23.3 billion. The market's average forecast had been for $23.5 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Mosaid sues IBM for patent infringement

Source: Reuters
Patent licensing firm Mosaid Technologies Inc said on Monday it was taking IBM to court for allegedly infringing on six of Mosaid's U.S. patents.

Mosaid said the long-running dispute was over IBM's making and selling of microprocessor and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) products.

The Ottawa-based company said it was granted the patents on its fundamental dynamic random access memory (DRAM) circuit inventions.

"We are taking this action to protect our intellectual property because we have been unable to reach a reasonable settlement with IBM, despite many years of negotiation," John Lindgren, Mosaid's president and chief executive, said in a statement.

"We believe that IBM requires a license to our patents for its microprocessor and ASIC products that contain embedded DRAM. Mosaid has licensed virtually 100 percent of the global commodity DRAM industry, including signing patent license agreements covering embedded DRAM products. The value of our patents is internationally recognized."

Mosaid filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.
,

IBM signs 10-year IT outsourcing agreement with Innovation Auto Risk

IBM on Monday signed a 10-year information technology (IT) outsourcing agreement with Innovation Auto Risk, an established leader in the Indian market providing claims management services and other related solutions to insurers & fleet management companies.

As part of the agreement, IBM will deploy server, storage, networking and security IT infrastructure to be hosted at a data center in Delhi. IBM will provide 24x7 onsite infrastructure monitoring services from an onsite command centre. In addition, IBM will provide managed services and ongoing project management for infrastructure procurement, commissioning and configuration, as well as hardware refreshes after five years.

IBM put together a customized end-to-end managed services package and introduced Innovation Auto Risk to an operating-expense driven model, rather than capital-expense driven model. This allowed the company to pay IBM as-it-grows its business operations thus removing the need for large capital influx to sustain its growth and expansion. This agreement aims to reduce Innovation Auto Risk’s capital expenditure on IT by 25%.

“Innovation Auto Risk needed to build a robust infrastructure to address the growing claims processing requirements of their customers and we were able to provide this using a unique model that helped them grow without the headaches of managing their back-end and the need for huge capital requirements,” said Jyothi Satyanathan, Country Manager, ibm.com, IBM India/South Asia remarked,

“We are delighted with our agreement with IBM and believe its technology expertise and focus on delivering cost-efficient solutions will help us achieve our growth strategy and higher levels of customer satisfaction,” said Manu Mehta, Director, Innovation Auto Risk.

The agreement was signed in the second quarter of 2009.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

,

IBM bags $251.7 mn Carrefour deal

IBM Corp said that it signed a five-year agreement with French retailer Carrefour SA to improve and manage its information technology infrastructure for euro180 million, or $251.7 million.

IBM signed the contract with Carrefour the second largest international retailer after Wal-Mart Stores Inc in June.

IBM said the agreement will allow the retailer to control costs and improve IT security, among other benefits.

Carrefour France's IT infrastructure will be hosted from IBM's first European green data center in Montpellier. IBM shares lost 8 cents to $101.65 on Monday.

Monday, July 6, 2009

,

IBM wins Amul's 10-yr outsourcing contract

IBM will provide information technology services to Amul, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), and its milk unions to support their growth plans. The 10-year outsourcing deal is worth over Rs 80 crore and was signed last week, IBM said on Sunday.

Under the terms, IBM will manage and operate the IT environment of GCMMF for the next 10 years, primarily by setting up a technology platform based on ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems and a datacentre backed by a Disaster Recovery Centre. The project will begin with implementation of the ERP application and the necessary systems to enable Amul to increase operational efficiency. As a result, the cooperative will be able to improve its supply chain, strengthen customer focus and achieve stronger growth, said Sandip Patel, managing partner – Global Business Services, IBM India and South Asia.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Compliance software sales gives IBM leg up

IT services giant IBM India is counting on the growing need of companies to become better adapted to the needs of modern day auditing and compliance after the Satyam Computer Services fiasco. IBM said the Satyam scandal is a fresh new driver for the audit and compliance business.

IBM India has won a series of upgradation deals post-January on the auditing and compliance side of things. It has also won new clients in the manufacturing, BFSI and telecom verticals and a few PSUs have approached it too for contemporary solutions on this front.

V Subramanyam, VP (information manage-ment) IBM Software Group, India-South Asia, said that post-Satyam fraud several companies had approached them to plug loopholes in their accounting methods. He refused to name these customers citing customer confidentiality clauses.

“It’s not that these clients were not serious about their accounting practices, but the degree of scrutiny has gone up,” he said. The Satyam scandal, which broke in January 2009, was an eye-opner for many companies.
Auditing and compliance comprise 15 per cent revenues of the total Information Management portfolio of IBM India. The IM portfolio represents 40 per cent of the Software Group revenues.

“Auditors charge per hour and some companies find that a big financial burden. At IBM, we have the technology to automate audit and compliance electronically,” he said.

IBM also has a solution called ‘Omnifind’ that can sort sensitive and not-so-sensitive e-mails. “Even that has found many takers during this period,” said Subramanyam.

“I’m not sure whether this is a passing phase. But audit and compliance is driving a lot of interest,” he added.

To help clients address their growing compliance, legal and governance challenges, IBM has introduced the new IBM Compliance Warehouse for Legal Control comprising IBM software, hardware and services in a unified environment. This is to enable organisations to achieve, sustain and prove compliance with multiple legal and compliance mandates while reducing cost, complexity and risk. This offering also uses IBM’s Cognos technology for monitoring, reporting and analysing compliance-related content and processes.

“Companies have obviously placed a premium on cost-saving and our endeavour is to help them do that in these tough financial conditions,” Subramanyam said. “The key is to improve the scope of information management strategies, at lower costs.”

IBM to invest $100 mn in mobile R&D

IBM has announced it plans to shift $100 million investment over the next five years into a major research effort which it said aims to advance mobile services and capabilities for businesses and consumers worldwide.

IBM said it is investing to create technology in its labs that bring "simple, easy-to-use services" to the millions of people who have bypassed using the personal computer as their primary method of accessing the internet, and instead use their mobile devices for managing large forces of enterprise field workers, conducting financial transactions, entertainment and shopping.

Through this effort, the company said in a statement it is aiming to drive new intelligence into the underpinnings of the mobile web to create new efficiencies in business operations and people's daily lives.

The three focus areas for IBM's research investment are: emerging market mobility, mobile enterprise enablement, and enterprise end-user mobile experiences. Analytics, security, privacy and user interfrace, and navigation would be concentrated on across the Research effort.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

, ,

Telstra Awards $1.2bn Contracts To IBM, EDS, Infosys

Telstra today announced that it had pared down the number of its major outsourcers to three, granting EDS, Infosys and IBM around $1.2 billion worth of new contracts.

The five-year contracts came out of the company's IT transformation plans to modernise its ageing legacy systems. According to the company, the transformation program had allowed it to review its IT contracts and systems, consolidating work carried out in application development and maintenance and infrastructure build management and support.

EDS and Infosys received the go ahead to work on application development and maintenance worth $450 million combined, although IBM will remain a strategic partner. EDS' portion will net it $190 million but has additional discretionary components, which could raise the bar to $334 million.

IBM meanwhile has nabbed itself a new contract to manage Telstra's infrastructure, worth $745 million over five years. The agreement covers datacentre mainframe operations, a proportion of mid-range operations and maintenance. Telstra hoped to increase the remote management capability of its systems and to reduce infrastructure build time.

"This is an important milestone for Telstra IT. One of the key outcomes of our IT transformation is the delivery of operational excellence," Telstra CIO John McInerney said in a statement.

All three of the vendors had already been working for the company, but survived a contractor cull that the telco had flagged last year. IT said that it intended to lower the number of its contractors to two from the original count of four: EDS, IBM Global Services, Infosys and Satyam.

The final number, three, has lead to only Satyam being kicked out of the telco's deals, as was reported last year.

Satyam has been having trouble since a scandal earlier this year where it was revealed that the company's former chairman Ramalinga Raju had been doctoring the company's books.