INDUSTRY

ARMONK, NY -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the availability of the IBM eServer p690, code-named "Regatta," which is shipping in volume beginning today. Customers include San Francisco-based Gap Inc., which has selected the eServer p690 to run retail supply chain software for its Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy brands. Introduced exactly on schedule after a five-year development effort, the eServer p690 is transforming the economics of the UNIX market by offering better performance than competing high-end servers for as little as half the price. The IBM eServer p690 pioneers an innovative system-on-a-chip design, with each chip containing two one-gigahertz-plus processors, a large memory cache and I/O interconnected with other components using a new high performance distributed switch design. This unique architecture enables Regatta to offer tremendous power and reliability with significantly fewer processors than competing systems. Built with technology from IBM's Project eLiza initiative, the eServer p690 is the industry's only UNIX server that offers multiple layers of self-healing technologies designed to allow the system to continue operating -- even through component failures and system errors. The eServer p690 can either be operated as a single large server or divided into as many as 16 "virtual" servers, running any combination of the AIX 5L and Linux operating systems. Gap Inc. has selected two Regatta servers to run its planning retail software -- provided by Retek-- which is intended to optimize the company's planning process across all store formats, geographies and its supply chain. This software, running on the eServer p690, will help decrease costs while increasing customer service across Gap Inc.'s three brands. "We chose the eServer p690 because we believe that it supports our scalability and performance level requirements," said Ken Harris, CIO, Gap Inc. "With IBM's servers and Retek's software, we are increasing the level of visibility to merchandise in our supply chain and improving the way we plan our business." "Early ship customers in a wide spectrum of industries are already relying on the IBM eServer p690 to run mission-critical workloads -- from enterprise resource planning and e-commerce solutions to computationally-intensive scientific applications," said Val Rahmani, general manager, IBM pSeries. "Gap Inc.'s choice of Regatta demonstrates how IBM pSeries' technology plays a critical role in meeting short and long-term business needs." For more information visit www.ibm.com