ARMONK, N.Y. -- June 14, 2004 -- IBM today announced new services for client environments including: desktops, PDAs, POS (Points of Sale), and other "client" devices, on open platforms, including the Linux operating system, for businesses in Brazil. Using an industry-specific approach that combines business consulting and customized blueprints, IBM enables customers to leverage the benefits of an open platform for certain industry applications beyond the server.
Due to increased customer interest in specific industries such as the retail and financial services sectors, IBM has developed the new open client services to help companies enhance overall security, productivity, and performance, while helping to lower software licensing costs. Tapping into its expertise in open source and open standards computing, IT services leadership and consulting expertise in specific industries allows IBM to quickly respond to the growing opportunity in Brazil.
IBM's new offerings adopt a consultative-based approach. IBM business and IT consultants work with customers in the retail, financial services and government sectors to identify segments of the business that can most easily and successfully migrate to an open environment. IBM offers 'one stop shopping' to help customers migrate infrastructures to Linux and other open platforms, including assessment, IT design, architecture a pilot, and support.
Casas Bahia, one of the largest non-food retailers in Brazil, has had tremendous success by taking advantage of IBM's retail Linux solution for storefront systems. It faced the challenges of bringing costs down, while increasing the functionality and scalability of its point-of-sale solution in the stores. Working with IBM to deploy Linux for its POS system, the company was able increase the flexibility, stability and security in its existing environment.
With ongoing security issues and the increasingly rising costs of maintaining desktops, companies have turned to IBM to help develop solutions that will transform their desktop network into a security-rich on demand infrastructure, while lowering the total cost of ownership for their desktops.
IBM supports a range of open client platform and industry-leading Linux platforms, including Red Hat, Novell/SUSE, Conectiva, a Latin American Linux distributor, as well as others. The new offerings focus on certain areas ripe for a move to Linux: call centers; technical workstations; kiosks, ATMs, and point- of- sale terminals; in addition to specific industry targets such as retail, bank branch transformation, and government facilities.
"IBM is seeing customers increasingly looking to develop open platforms for their desktop environments so as to not be tied into one vendor," said Peter Nielsen, director of Linux services strategy, IBM Global Services. "With the success of Linux on the server, the shift to deploy Linux on technical workstations, as well as a growing array of applications that run under Linux, many customers are seeing the productivity and cost benefits of these types of open platform services. IBM is leveraging its own industry consultants and worldwide services expertise to respond to growing customer demand in these emerging countries and niche segments of the market."
IBM Open Client Desktop Services include:
- Assessment services including consulting with customers to plan the migration of infrastructures to open platforms including the assessment, IT design, pilot, architecture and support
- Pilot deployment including site, rollout & install services
- Migration and porting services
- Specific industry based solutions for retail, financial services and government sectors
- Support for Linux deployment, including remote and full spectrum support package
- Distribution partners and alliances for support of customer's Linux computing environment
About IBM Global Services
IBM Global Services is the world's largest information technology services and consulting provider, generating record revenue and signings in 2003 of $42.6 billion and $55.5 billion, respectively. Some 180,000 professionals in more than 160 countries help clients integrate information technology with business value -- from the business transformation and industry expertise of IBM Business Consulting Services to hosting, infrastructure, technology design and training services. Leveraging IBM's unequalled scope and scale, IBM Global Services delivers integrated, flexible and resilient processes -- across companies and through business partners -- that enable clients to benefit from the on demand business model by saving money and transforming their businesses to be more competitive. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/services.
