INDUSTRY

IBM today introduced Grid and Autonomic Computing services that combine business consulting knowledge with research and technology expertise to help customers gain competitive advantage in their respective industries. The services bring together experts in business from IBM Business Consulting Services and IBM Global Services with experts in emerging technologies at IBM Research. Bowne & Co., Inc. (NYSE: BNE), a global leader in delivering high-value document management solutions, is one of the first customers to take advantage of the new services. Bowne's goal: to better respond to monthly and quarterly spikes in demand for the processing and printing of critical financial documents and to add processing power for unexpected, high-priority projects. Grid and Autonomic computing technologies help companies harness the collective computing power of disparate IT resources and manage them as a single, large computer. These technologies can help organizations improve operating efficiency, enhance productivity, and adapt more quickly to changing business conditions. "IBM and DataSynapse helped us use Grid technology to demonstrate through a pilot a fifty percent improvement in the performance of one of our core software applications, Statements, which delivers critical financial statements to our customers, " said Ellen Kraus, Senior Director for Enterprise Architecture, Bowne & Co., Inc. "With Grid, we are planning to significantly improve the utilization of our existing IT infrastructure, better address important SEC regulations and, most importantly, respond more quickly to our customers." "These new IBM services bring together industry specific business consulting knowledge with advanced technology skills for companies turning to Grid and Autonomic computing," said Bruce Williams, General Manager, Integrated Technology Services, IBM Global Services. "This combination of business and technical leadership helps companies like Bowne improve core business processes that are critical to their success and growth." The services announced today help customers immediately realize the benefits of Grid and Autonomic computing: * IBM Grid Value at Work is a first of its kind assessment methodology that provides customers with a detailed Total Cost of Ownership analysis and roadmap for companies considering Grid computing projects. Grid Value at Work assists enterprises in gaining maximum business advantage from Grid computing technology by helping CIOs and line of business executives build a business case for deploying Grids, based on their individual objectives. * IBM Business Impact of Technology Services help customers identify the impact that Grid computing can have on key business processes, cost control, and revenue generation. Using IBM's deep industry knowledge and experience, consultants help CIOs gain business insight into the impact of a Grid project on every aspect of their organization. * Grid Solution Deployment Services help customers assess and plan, design, implement, and run Grid deployments based on their organization's business goals. In addition, IBM Global Services can assist customers in migrating existing applications and provide integration expertise. As part of an engagement, IBM Global Services professionals can address infrastructure and systems management, networking, security, business continuity and technology support issues that are key to a successful Grid implementation. * Autonomic Computing Readiness Engagement services help customers identify opportunities for increasing systems management automation. The services create a framework that defines end to end infrastructure and applications management requirements for critical business systems, and develops guiding principles related to Autonomic computing services, processes, people and management tools. "The Autonomic Computing Readiness Engagement has given us a solid and unique master plan for sure productivity increase," said Jean-Paul Casta, IT operation manager, Service Delivery for Distribution Company (SDDC), a leading computer services provider for the retail industry. "This puts us on the track for on demand self managing technology." * Autonomic Computing Design and Implementation Services help customers realize the potential of Autonomic computing by using IBM Global Services and IBM Research experts to assist customers in the architecture and design of self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing and self-protecting environments. The experts also help develop Autonomic capabilities that exploit core technologies and provide specialized assistance with critical implementation activities.