American Express Teams With IBM In Industry-Leading Technology Services Initiative.Business Editors NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of & ARMONK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 25, 2002 Innovative Partnership Strengthens American Express' Competitive Technology Advantage with e-Business on Demand American Express American Express (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as "AmEx" or "Amex", is a diversified global financial services company, headquartered in New York City. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card and traveler's cheque businesses. Company (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :AXP The brand name Digital gave to its first family of Alpha-based computers. In 1998, Digital was acquired by Compaq. See Alpha. ) and IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) today announced a technology services partnership that will enhance the performance and efficiency of American Express' global technology infrastructure. The deal is worth more than $4 billion over a seven-year term, with options to extend. Effective March 1, IBM will provide American Express with utility-like access to its vast computing resources, improving the quality, performance and delivery of American Express technology systems. The agreement is expected to save American Express hundreds of millions of dollars in information technology (IT) costs over its term. In addition, having IBM's resources on demand will provide American Express with the flexibility to adjust rapidly to changing business needs. It is expected that approximately 2,000 American Express technology employees will be able to transfer to comparable positions at IBM. The transfer of American Express U.S. technologies operations work to IBM will take place in March. The transfer of American Express international technologies operations work is scheduled to begin in May and will take a phased approach, dependent on the completion of in-country agreements and other matters and compliance with local regulatory requirements Regulatory requirements are part of the process of drug discovery and drug development. Regulatory requirements describe what is necessary for a new drug to be approved for marketing in any particular country. . "Our goal in this partnership is to ensure that American Express is the world's best user of information technology," said Glen Salow, executive vice president and chief information officer, American Express Company. "In technology operations, that means computing resources are available on demand at a predictable, best-in-class cost and are delivered with the highest levels of quality. IBM has the unique combination of skills, processes and economies of scale to meet these requirements and ensure our IT systems foster business growth." American Express -- which offers products and services in more than 200 countries -- has one of the world's largest IT operations, processing approximately one billion transactions daily. Its mainframe systems alone provide tens of thousands of MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) The execution speed of a computer. For example, .5 MIPS is 500,000 instructions per second; 100 MIPS is a hundred million instructions per second. of computing processing power. To support American Express' future growth, IBM will optimize the company's worldwide computer systems and web sites, providing skills and computing resources on a proactive and "on-demand" basis. IBM will reallocate Verb 1. reallocate - allocate, distribute, or apportion anew; "Congressional seats are reapportioned on the basis of census data" reapportion allocate, apportion - distribute according to a plan or set apart for a special purpose; "I am allocating a loaf of resources as necessary to ensure that IT priorities are aligned with American Express' business needs. American Express will continue to retain its core technology competencies, including information technology strategy, strategic technology relationships, the development and maintenance of applications and databases and the management of its businesses' technology portfolios. "Today American Express is placing itself at the forefront of a new computer services Data processing (timesharing, batch processing), software development and consulting services. See service bureau, SaaS and ASP. paradigm," said Doug Elix, IBM senior vice president and group executive, IBM Global Services IBM Global Services is the world's largest business and technology services provider. It is the fastest growing part of IBM, with over 190,000 professionals serving customers in more than 160 countries. . "The utility computing (1) Pay-per-usage processing provided by a service organization that uses its own computers and facilities. Customers access the computers via a private network or over the Internet and are charged according to how much computing time they use, such as CPU seconds, minutes or hours. service delivery model American Express is adopting will give it the flexibility to draw on all the computing resources, skills and technologies required to support future growth. "In addition, the knowledge and skills of the American Express technology employees joining IBM will be a valuable asset to our relationship with American Express and to IBM overall," Elix said. IBM will support its "on-demand" services partnership with American Express with the most advanced and reliable data center technologies and enterprise systems management processes available in the industry. IBM will provide data center and computer services from American Express facilities in Phoenix and Minneapolis. It is also expected to deliver technical support services support services Psychology Non-health care-related ancillary services–eg, transportation, financial aid, support groups, homemaker services, respite services, and other services on-site at American Express locations around the world. About American Express American Express Company is a diversified worldwide travel, financial and network services company founded in 1850. It is a world leader in charge and credit cards, Travelers Cheques, travel, financial planning Financial planning Evaluating the investing and financing options available to a firm. Planning includes attempting to make optimal decisions, projecting the consequences of these decisions for the firm in the form of a financial plan, and then comparing future performance against , business services, insurance and international banking. For more information, visit www.americanexpress.com. About IBM Global Services IBM Global Services is the world's largest information technology services provider, with approximately 150,000 professionals serving customers in 160 countries and annual revenue of $35 billion (2001). IBM Global Services integrates IBM's broad range of capabilities - services, consulting, hardware, software and research - to help companies of all sizes realize the full value of information technology. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/services. |
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