IBM Ranked #1 in Global Application Outsourcing Services Market

Market Wire, October, 2008

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that industry analyst firm IDC has ranked IBM the worldwide leader in the application management services (AMS) market over Accenture, EDS and all Indian-based firms based on combined bundled and discrete services revenue in 2007.(1)

According to IDC estimates, IBM held a significant combined lead in application management services reflecting the company's historical growth and flexibility in evolving an application management practice that supports discrete and embedded application management solutions.

"As clients seek higher-value solutions from services partners they increasingly require flexibility in the way they contract for AMS services, either combined with traditional systems integration or strategic outsourcing, or as an optimized, standalone agreement," said Colleen Arnold, general manager, Global Application Services, IBM Global Business Services. "Through our long-term investments in repeatable assets and the world's most sophisticated global delivery network, IBM is able to offer clients the greatest depth of capabilities across any number of industries, any where in the world."

In addition to flexible capabilities, growth in IBM's AMS offerings is driven by the company's Business Application Modernization, accelerating SOA adoption and reducing transformation costs, time and resources. By optimizing core applications around SOA, clients can improve business model readiness by componentizing their businesses to more quickly respond to emerging market opportunities.

In its groundbreaking study, IDC determined that the applications management services market is evolving as customers pursue greater Applications Outsourcing efficiencies while pushing for higher value services that integrate reusable frameworks for application, business process and quality assurance modernization. IDC explains that "IBM, for example, has clearly built up a robust AMS practice, addressing either discrete or integrated solutions based on customer needs. While historically the bundled strategy may have dominated its approach, the discrete approach is growing as a significant portion of its full service portfolio."

The IDC report entitled "Zooming Out to Capture the Broader Application Outsourcing Opportunity: 2007 Integrated and Discrete Views" was authored by Rona Shuchat.

About IBM

For more information visit www.ibm.com .

(1) IDC, Rona Shuchat, "Zooming Out to Capture the Broader Application Outsourcing Opportunity: 2007 Integrated and Discrete Views," Sept 2008 (Doc # 214063)

Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine

Media Contact: Timothy Blair IBM Media Relations 914-766-2607 tblair@us.ibm.com