IBM Ranked Top Provider Of Disaster Recovery Services

IBM announced today that Waters Magazine has ranked it the top provider of disaster recovery and business continuity services. According to the "2004 Waters Rankings," which polled readers of Waters magazine, IBM leads the "Business Continuity" category, receiving 35.2 percent of the vote, putting it ahead of its competitors.

"In today's business environment, companies have to become better prepared for all sorts of disasters -- both natural and man-made. These dangers, coupled with the race to meet new compliance requirements, are driving companies to embrace proactive business continuity planning," said John Jackson, vice president, IBM Business Resilience and Continuity Services. "IBM, with more than 40 years of experience offering business continuity services to companies around the globe, has supported more than 600 recoveries since 1989 and upwards of 75,000 test events."

The "2004 Waters Rankings" were the result of the editors of Waters magazine inviting its readers to vote for the best hardware, software, financial service vendors and trading venues in the industry. Beginning in May 2004, almost 500 votes were submitted. For each category, Waters provided voters with three to seven choices, but also allowed for write-ins.

IBM also took top honors for three other major categories: IBM Strategic Outsourcing Services; IBM Grid Management Services; and IBM Blade Servers.

The full report can be viewed at http://db.riskwaters.com/public/showPage.html?page=170691. More information on IBM's disaster recovery services can be found at: http://www.ibm.com/services/continuity

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.

About Waters magazine

Waters magazine covers the practical implementation of technology in the securities industry and is targeted to financial technology professionals worldwide for focused, in-depth coverage of financial market data and technology. For more information, visit www.watersonline.com.

Contact: Kelli Gail IBM Corporation (646) 598-6165 kelliga@us.ibm.com