IBM Delivers Linux Solutions to Finance Industry with New London Center

IBM Delivers Linux Solutions to Finance Industry with New London Center

New Centers Around the World Allow Customers in Various Industries to "Test
Drive" Linux

      Somers, NY, April 29, 2003. . .IBM today announced the official
opening of a new center in London for the financial sector, the latest of
nine new IBM Linux® competency centers IBM has across four different
continents.  The centers are designed to help customers of every size, and
from a variety of industries, including government, oil and gas and retail,
take advantage of the reliability, flexibility and cost-effectiveness of
Linux.

The Linux Centre for Financial Services in London is IBM's newest
Linux-focused competency center.  The new Linux center provides financial
services and banking firms with a  hands-on environment to test and deploy
Linux-based solutions that include a range of IBM hardware, software and
services, as well as industry specific applications.

"As we look to expand our Linux solution, it will be extremely beneficial to
have the resources available at the IBM Linux Centre for Financial Services
to test new configurations and applications," said Andy Makings, Virgin
Money.  "With IBM's help, we've already moved our Web servers from Sun
servers to low cost IBM eServer BladeCenter systems running Linux.  The new
Linux solution, which just took three weeks to deploy, is 20 percent quicker
than our previous setup and gives us the flexibility to add new blades so
the system can easily scale to meet the needs of various projects."

The new Linux centers give customers, Business Partners and software vendors
an environment to simulate real world scenarios and test applications using
IBM hardware and software running on Linux.  IBM resources available in the
centers include a variety of IBM TotalStorage(tm) products running Linux;
the entire eServer(tm) line, including inexpensive, Intel®-based eServer
xSeries(tm) systems, high-powered Linux clusters, and eServer zSeries(tm)
mainframes for cost-effective server consolidation; as well as IBM software
including WebSphere®, DB2®, Lotus®, Tivoli® and Rational® offerings that
deliver integration, database, collaboration and
security capabilities.

"The common thread that links all of these centers together is the viability
of Linux for businesses in a variety of different industries," said Jim
Stallings, general manager, Linux, IBM. "More and more customers are
realizing that the cost savings, reliability, security and performance of
Linux provides the foundation that will allow them to respond quickly to
changing market conditions and meet the needs of their customers, suppliers
and partners in an on demand environment."

New IBM Linux Centers

	*	Linux Centre for Financial Services in London:  This center
is designed to help financial customers test and implement Linux solutions.
The center features IBM hardware, software and services in a hands-on
environment that will allow businesses, Linux distributors and Business
Partners to evaluate and test key applications on Linux.  The center also
provides access to Linux education, training and community events.

	*	IBM Linux Center of Competence for Wall Street: This center
is located in New York and is designed to provides the financial sector with
a full range of support for Linux, including access to IBM hardware,
software and services to evaluate and test key applications on Linux.  The
center offers technical advice on Linux, as well as Linux training courses
and educational programs.  Linux community events are also hosted at the
center.  In the six months since the center opened, 15 of the 25 largest
worldwide financial services institutions have come through the center to
work with IBM and more than 45 independent software vendors and Business
Partners on Linux projects.  With nearly 100 prominent organizations using
the IBM center for meetings, customer councils, briefings, strategy
sessions, and education around Linux, the Linux center is quickly becoming
an invaluable resource for the worldwide financial community.

	*	E-Government Center in Germany:  The IBM E-Government Center
in Germany offers public sector customers a sales and competence center to
help them transform their business processes. The center offers a range of
E-Government solutions primarily based on Linux that are developed by IBM
and its Business Partners. The E-Government Center also supports the German
Governments' open source and Linux projects as part of the Berlin Ministry
of Interior and IBM framework contract.

	*	Linux Integration Center in Germany:  This new center helps
a variety of industries, including financial services, retail and
manufacturing identify key areas within a customer's infrastructure to
implement Linux. This facility, which includes IBM hardware, software and
services, can simulate networking environments to provide detailed
consultations, architectural guidance and educational briefings surrounding
Linux and open source software.

	*	Energy Competency Center in United Arab Emirates:  This
center is designed to assist the oil and gas industry and features
Intel-based Linux clusters with xSeries systems and high-performance
Intel-based IBM IntelliStation® workstations to be used with sophisticated
visualization applications for geographic exploration and mapping.  These
specialized applications require powerful computational capability.  This
centre allows businesses to test Linux-based clusters, both at a customer
site and in the centre, as well as test new ISV applications running on
Linux.

	*	China-IBM Linux Solution Cooperation Center:  IBM China, in
cooperation with the Beijing  Municipality Science and Technology Commission
and the Beijing Municipality Information Working Office, created this center
to help customers port applications to Linux; create end-to-end Linux
solutions; as well as provide training for Linux professionals in China.
With 150 Linux developers in its research and development center in China,
IBM is providing the technical support, Linux certification and training for
professionals attending the new China-IBM Linux Center.

	*	Open Computing Center in Singapore:   IBM and Nanyang
Polytechnic (NYP) center is dedicated to helping industries, government
institutions and users move to IT operating environments based on open
standards.  The IBM Open Computing Centre, includes the IBM Linux
Integration Zone and will promote the adoption of Linux by Business
Partners, customers and developers by providing them with an environment to
rapidly build, test and deploy a wide variety of Linux-based solutions. IBM
will also provide training, technical support and integration services for
IBM Linux-based middleware, products and solutions.

	*	Linux Hub Center of Seoul National University:  IBM and
Seoul National University created a center for academia and the IT industry
to support Linux-based research and teaching activities.  The center serves
university researchers, along with IBM developers, students attending Seoul
National University and other Korean universities, along with IBM customers
and Business Partners.  This center will focus on a variety of areas,
including Linux optimization, data mining, wireless application
technologies, distribution handling systems and e-learning.

	*	Linux Labs in Brazil:  IBM created a new Linux center in
Brazil by dedicating four software development labs to help developers
create Linux-based applications for the financial industry.  The labs
contain IBM mainframes and software to port and test new business
applications running on Linux.  IBM is working together with the University
of Brazil at the center and also provides technical support, training and
education.

These centers join dozens of IBM Centers around the world that help
customers, Business Partners and software vendors create reliable and
cost-effective environments.  For additional information on the new IBM
Linux centers, as well as existing integration centers, please visit:
www.ibm.com/linux

About IBM
IBM is the world's number one server company and information technology
provider, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM
helps customers, Business Partners and developers in a wide range of
industries that leverage the power of the Internet for e-business. For more
information, visit http://www.ibm.com.

# # #

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International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and other
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Rational is a registered trademark of International Business Machines
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Linux is a registered trademark of Linux Torvalds.

Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.