IBM signs euro 1.5 billion contract with ABN AMRO to manage infrastructure services

The contract, with financial services giant ABN AMRO, will also create an Innovation Center, where IBM scientists will develop highly advanced IT services to support new financial products.

The contract extends the powerful trend of financial sector customers outsourcing their IT to IBM. This roster includes Equifax, Morgan Stanley, ING, Axa, Viewpoint, Certegy.

I have attached the press release. For more information, please join ABN AMRO’s conference call today at 9 a.m. New York time/3 p.m Amsterdam time. Tom de Swaan, ABN AMRO Chief Financial Officer and member of ABN AMRO’s Managing Board will discuss the ramifications of the contract. Dial in number: +44 145 254 2300. To speak with an IBM executive, please contact me at tineke.mertens@nl.ibm.com or +31 20 513 3517

IBM SIGNS EURO 1.5 BILLION CONTRACT WITH ABN AMRO TO MANAGE INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES

Global agreement includes new Innovation Center to develop highly advanced IT services to support new financial products

ARMONK, NY, September 1, 2005 - IBM announced today that it has signed a global contract with Dutch global bank ABN AMRO to implement an on-demand IT infrastructure that will enable the bank to more rapidly roll out additional services while significantly reducing IT costs. The contract, worth about EURO 1.5 billion over 5 years, supports ABN AMRO operations worldwide and represents the most extensive rollout of IBM’s data center automation technology, called Universal Management Infrastructure.

As part of the contract, IBM will establish an innovation center to develop highly advanced IT services to support new financial products

IBM will support ABN AMRO desktop PCs as well as associated printers and PDAs, freeing the bank from maintaining and updating these systems. The end users will be supported by IBM's global help desk, providing a single point of contact for bank employees.

"In the world of modern banking, technology drives customer satisfaction as well as bottom line results," states Hugh Scott Barrett, COO and Managing Board Member, ABN AMRO. "IBM’s technology expertise, in conjunction with its knowledge of the banking industry will underpin the value of this global IT relationship, supporting ABN AMRO in building sustainable competitive growth for the organisation."

Under the contract, IBM will:

- Manage core data centers for the bank’s Strategic Business Units, including Commercial and Consumer Clients, Private Clients, Asset Management, and New Growth Markets. Computing platforms include IBM mainframes and IBM, HP and Sun Microsystems UNIX servers and IBM iSeries servers. ABN AMRO’s infrastructure also includes EMC and IBM storage devices.

- Provide application development services. The bank’s systems are located in three main data centers in Amsterdam, Chicago and Sao Paolo, as well as some smaller centers.

- Infrastructure management will be standardized globally using IBM'S Universal Management Infrastructure, an automation technology designed to
provide ABN AMRO with benefits including:

- Resources on demand - processing power, storage capacity, and networking bandwidth dialled up or down as needs and volumes dictate

- Variable infrastructure pricing - via a sophisticated delivery system that allows ABN AMRO to pay only for computing power it uses.

"ABN AMRO has a long history of innovation and customer service," said Phil Guido, general manager, financial services sector, IBM Global Services. "Working with IBM, the bank is clearly moving to create a next-generation IT infrastructure, where on demand systems deliver superior performance and new products and services are rolled out faster than ever before."

Today’s news builds on a number of IT infrastructure management services that IBM is already delivering to ABN AMRO in France and Hong Kong.

The contract is pending certain regulatory and other approvals.

IBM Global Services
IBM Global Services is the world's largest information technology services and consulting provider. Some 190,000 professionals in more than 160 countries help clients integrate information technology with business value -- from the business transformation and industry expertise of IBM Business Consulting Services to hosting, infrastructure, technology design and training services. IBM Global Services delivers integrated, flexible and resilient processes across companies and through business partners, enabling clients to save money and transform their businesses to be more competitive. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/services.

Voor meer informatie:

Tineke Mertens
Manager Communications
IBM Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg
Off: +31 20 513 3517
Mob: +31 6 200 150 92
tineke.mertens@nl.ibm.com