Amsterdam, 29 april 2003 - IBM opent vandaag in Londen een Linux center voor financiële dienstverlening. Dit center zal klanten, business partners en software leveranciers de gelegenheid bieden oplossingen op basis van Linux te testen en uit te rollen. Het center maakt onderdeel uit van een groep van centers die over de hele wereld zijn opgezet om overheidsinstanties, financiële instellingen, olie- en gasbedrijven en retail ondernemingen te ondersteunen bij het toepassen van het flexibele en kosten-effectieve Linux platform.
Andere Linux centers zijn onder andere het e-governement center in Duitsland, het eerste center dat specifiek is ontworpen om overheids instellingen te helpen bij de overgang naar Linux en een omgeving gebaseerd op open standaarden, en het Open Computing center in de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten.
Voor meer informatie of als u interesse heeft in een interview dan kunt u contact opnemen met:
Etta Pouw
Tel: 020 513 4228
Email: etta_pouw@nl.ibm.com
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 - products running Linux; the entire eServer? line, including inexpensive, Intel®-based eServer xSeries - systems, high-powered Linux clusters, and eServer zSeries? 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 visualisation 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: http://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.