IBM Opens Global Supply Chain Innovation Center in China

Market Wire, March, 2008

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the opening of the first supply chain innovation center dedicated to helping companies worldwide integrate and transform their global supply chain capabilities. IBM's new Supply Chain Innovation Center located in Beijing, China will leverage the company's expertise in supply chain research, business consulting services, software capabilities and its own Integrated Supply Chain experience to create new solutions for companies around the world.

The new innovation center was announced as part of the company's third worldwide Supply Chain Summit featuring senior executives from companies managing the world's leading supply chains.

Featuring dedicated supply chain researchers, the Beijing Supply Chain Innovation Center will collaborate with companies to develop innovative solutions such as the Supply Chain Virtual Command Center and the Carbon Tradeoff Modeler. In addition to creating new solutions, the center will showcase and leverage existing industry solutions to help companies expand and grow their integrated supply chain capabilities -- advancing them on the supply chain maturity curve.

Today's announcement illustrates how IBM itself operates as a globally integrated enterprise. Global integration is embedded in IBM's workforce, strategy, leadership and operations -- enhancing how the company collaborates across time zones and cultures and locates its operations, functions and leadership anywhere in the world based on the right skills and business environment.

"Helping companies transform and extend their supply chains in a globally integrated economy requires new thinking, new methods and new tools," said Sanjeev Nagrath, Global Leader, Supply Chain Management, IBM Global Business Services. "China, which is one of the fastest growing economies and a key link in global supply chains is an ideal place to locate our new innovation center to create solutions for companies in not only emerging markets, but anywhere in the world."

The new supply chain innovation center will leverage best practices in leading-edge supply chain methods/techniques to help companies advance their supply chain transformation agenda. The center will showcase several innovative solutions for companies including:

--  Virtual Command Center: this Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based
    supply chain visibility solution integrates and synchronizes information --
    supply, demand and logistics. The solution enables companies to gain
    visibility into the status and performance of the supply chain to
    facilitate effective decision-making in a sense and respond environment.

--  Supply Chain Optimization tools and modelers enable companies to
    design and operate agile and adaptable supply chain processes and networks.

--  Carbon Tradeoff Modeler: helps companies include carbon output --
    footprinting -- as a key variable when optimizing the supply chain allowing
    them to understand the outcome of critical tradeoffs.
    

The IBM Supply Chain Innovation Center is available immediately and can be leveraged by any IBM client worldwide. Companies should contact their IBM representative if they are interested in the services provided by the Innovation Center.

About IBM

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Contact: Randy Zane IBM Media Relations 917-472-3589 rzane@us.ibm.com .