ROME, Italy, - 20 mai 2010: Client Demand for Better Performance at Lower Cost Accelerates the Movement to IBM DB2 Database Software

 

More than 500 Solution Providers Adopt DB2 in the less than 12 Months

ROME, Italy, May 20, 2010 -- A new wave of clients and business partners in industries such as healthcare, energy and financial markets have made the switch from competitive platforms to IBM DB2 database software to meet data intensive demands of their businesses.  To further accelerate this momentum, IBM announced today a new feature that allows clients to more easily move their applications written for Sybase ASE to DB2 - adding to the support for Oracle Database applications introduced last year.

Clients such as BJC Healthcare and Pep Boys are already testing the feature to move their industry applications from Sybase ASE to DB2 to help reduce IT costs and achieve overall better performance.

Additionally, in just the past 12 months, more than 500 partners including Synopsis SA, Perficient, Inc. and Odyssey Financial Technologies Inc. have adopted or migrated to DB2 due to its ease of use, lower costs and greater ROI for their clients. 

Current economic conditions are driving companies to consolidate and standardize their IT environments with lower cost, energy-efficient, more scalable infrastructure.  Companies in all industries can have up to thousands of applications and dozens of database management systems that need to interact with one another, that are either purchased or received through an acquisition.  These systems create redundant hardware, software, administration -- increasing IT costs.

Since the release of DB2 9.7, a growing number of clients have moved their applications from Oracle Database to DB2, in some instances, in a matter of days, to gain more efficiencies and reduce costs associated with managing their IT infrastructure.  They have benefited from unique DB2 innovations such as pureScale running on IBM Power Systems, that helps clients increase their database transaction capacity while reducing the risk and cost of growing their IT systems.

For clients moving applications from Sybase ASE, this new SQL Skin feature makes DB2 the best choice for quickly reducing their operational costs so they can invest more on growing their business through strategic initiatives such as analytics.   This fully integrated capability was jointly developed with ANTS software Inc. (OTCBB:ANTS), a leading provider of database migration solutions. This development began more than two years ago and early adopter clients have participated in a beta program since late 2009.

"We understand the pressures clients face to increase the overall performance of their organizations streamline their processes while also reducing costs,” said Arvind Krishna, General Manager, IBM Information Management.   "Our continued investment in developing innovative technologies such as the new SQL Skin is a clear demonstration of our commitment to helping clients meet these challenges."

"We are proud of this partnership with IBM," said Joseph Kozak, Chairman and CEO, ANTS software Inc. "IBM's global reach and support coupled with the unmatched technology and cost advantages delivered by ANTS innovations creates a powerful new offering for global enterprises.  In large financial services and telecommunications markets, where cost savings is a major priority, the value of quickly moving to DB2 can be compelling for companies focused on reducing costs." 

BJC Healthcare & Pep Boys Move Industry Applications Seamlessly

BJC HealthCare plays a key role in medical research for cancer, heart disease, diabetes as well as other diseases and the success of medical research is dependent on handling information about a large population of patients participating in clinical trials.   A reliable and cost effective IT infrastructure that can handle a massive amount of data is critical for BJC to identify the appropriate candidates and track their progress -- further advancing the efforts to improve patient care.  

"We are eager to eliminate unnecessary costs by reducing the level of complexity our IT staff need to support,” said Tom Holdener, Lead Architect at BJC HealthCare.  "The new DB2 SQL Skin feature allows us to migrate two proprietary applications - clinical results viewing and a business intelligence application -  from Sybase ASE to DB2 with virtually no changes, drastically reducing the time to a matter of weeks instead of months. In addition to lowering our database license and maintenance costs, we can also take advantage of advanced DB2 features such as deep compression to further reduce storage-related costs.  This seamless migration allows us to shift our time and resources to ensure the information of BJC's patients is maintained with the highest standards of quality."  

US-based Pep Boys, the leading automotive aftermarket service and retail chain, with more than 580 stores located in 35 states and Puerto Rico recently started to look at consolidating their database systems to help reduce administration costs. As a part of the beta program, Pep Boys was able to complete a successful proof of concept by moving their special order parts application from Sybase ASE to DB2 in a matter of weeks.  

"I'm excited about the possibility of IBM's compatibility features for DB2 to make it easier for Pep Boys to increase efficiencies and more effectively manage inventory across multiple suppliers," said Jim Ofalt, Systems Manager at The Pep Boys Manny, Moe & Jack.  "What we saw in the beta was a seamless move to DB2 requiring no changes to the application. This is really important as we would not want to disrupt our business by changing application behavior. In addition, Pep Boys has several applications they are evaluating for a move to DB2 to help eliminate increasing maintenance fees."

Other global clients such as fashion e-retailer Faith Industry and ABSA Bank are turning to DB2 from other competitive database vendors to meet today's business challenges.

Italy's Faith Industry Moves from Oracle Database to DB2

Faith Industry based in Isernia, Italy recently turned to DB2 to support their catalogue of men’s, women’s and children’s wear. The e-retailer  featuring designers such as Rero Design, Johnny Faith and Alta Sartoria Molisana needed a more robust and reliable database platform that could support all the Web marketing activities to help potential customers find the site and support the increasing amount of content such as text and images to videos, catalogue cards, and news.   As part of the project, one of the first significant steps was the company’s migration from Oracle Database to DB2 with the collaboration of business partner OneCube.  

"The exceptional performance of IBM DB2, and portability from Oracle Database, has allowed us to execute the migration seamlessly while building on existing IT investments," said Arianna Perna, owner of Faith Industry.  "We have also been able to achieve up to 75 percent reduction of space needed for data moved from Oracle Database.  Now we have a system that is optimized for tracking insight on our customers to better understand their buying patterns."

South Africa's ABSA Bank chooses DB2 to address the most sophisticated information management challenges

ABSA Bank is one of South Africa's largest financial services organizations, serving private, retail and corporate customers.  According to Jaco de Jager, SAP Application Architect, ABSA Bank wanted to align themselves more closely to the SAP development strategy to reduce storage and licensing costs, provide increased performance while remaining competitive in the marketplace.  IBM's strong partnership with SAP was the main reason for ABSA turning to IBM.  As more and more consumers are using their mobile devices for their banking needs, there is a greater volume of data being generated every day.  Having a DB2 database platform with unique features such as deep compression, can help ABSA save millions of dollars on storage and licensing costs and reducing its storage requirements by up to 60 percent.

DB2 SQL Skin for Sybase ASE applications is available May 28. 

To view Don Haderle, Father of IBM DB2, discussing the rise of analytics, click here

To check out the IOD EMEA 2010 online press kit, click here.

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For more information on ANTS software Inc, visit http://www.ants.com/

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Slovenia's Iskratel and IBM Respond Faster to Skyrocketing Consumer Demand for Mobile Applications

IBM Software Gives 30% Boost in Iskratel’s System Efficiency

ROME, Italy, May 20, 2010 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it is collaborating with Iskratel, a leading telecommunications equipment company serving 20 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, to help Communications Service Providers (CSPs) respond three times faster to a growing number of tech savvy consumers demanding more data-intensive applications and services including ringtones, music and video downloads, instant messaging, GPS, traffic alerts and stock trades.

Now more than ever, CSPs need to respond with greater speed to handle millions of subscribers in microseconds.  In addition, they need to respond to an increasing number of requests for unstructured data generated from a variety of sources such as blogs, web content, social media websites and email.  Using IBM solidDB, Iskratel has dramatically tripled the speed of transactions the system can handle, surpassing 1.2 million busy hour call attempts.  A 30 percent increase in its system efficiency has also resulted in better network reliability, fewer dropped calls and faster downloads.

Between now and 2014, data traffic on the mobile network will increase 39 times, with more than 5 billion wirelessly connected personal devices adding to the load.  In addition, sophisticated mobile users are constantly looking for the next compelling, content rich, interactive application - creating an enormous market opportunity for this industry.  Traditional telecommunications companies who don't adapt their business to address this may find themselves sidelined by emerging players.  

With the intense competition from well-established global players in their region, as well as from the United States and China, Iskratel selected IBM solidDB, IBM’s relational, in-memory database software to help them deliver innovative products, solutions and applications in the telecommunications space, that would enable them to succeed in new markets.  

Iskratel has built a faster and more flexible service delivery platform that allows shorter time-to-market for new data-intensive services  such as voice calls, wireless voice, video, music and ringtone downloads, web browsing, and instant messaging. 

With the new solution, Iskratel is helping communications service providers build smart networks that are infused with advanced analytics and collect relevant data from them. With this solution, they have built on a foundation of standards and software that allow trillions of devices and objects to “talk” in real time.  

"The business model of investing in telecommunications is constantly changing, especially with the advent of advanced mobile devices and Internet savvy consumers. The priority is given to projects with a short ROI, and only those who meet the growing demand of today's consumers who want information at their fingertips will succeed,” said Mr. Andrej Cigliè, Executive Director R&D, Iskratel.  "The collaboration with IBM is helping Iskratel design innovative products to meet the demand of existing networks as well as the new demand of convergent networks that can be adapted to the particular regional needs and to subscribers’ preferences."

"The industry is seeing a new era of multimedia, in which voice, data, video and images are creating a market opportunity for CSPs to develop mobile applications and services to help make our lives more efficient," said Scott Stainken, general manager for IBM’s Telecommunications Industry. "IBM’s software, services and industry expertise help Iskratel to lay the foundation to deliver new innovative services faster, easier, and at lower cost.”

To view the Smarter Telecommunications Youtube video, please click here

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For more information on IBM solidDB, click here

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Spanish Retailer NECK & NECK Improves Customer Relationships,

Increases Sales with IBM Predictive Analytics

Using Analytics, Retailers Better Align Customer Understanding to Buying Patterns

ROME, Italy, May 20, 2010 –  IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that NECK & NECK, a children’s clothing retailer in nine European countries with more than 200 stores, is using IBM predictive analytics software to maximize customer relationships and improve the overall business. Using IBM predictive analytics, NECK & NECK has effectively targeted sales promotions, improving campaign response rates by more than 25 percent and increasing the average amount of consumer purchases by 15 percent in one year.

In April 2010, retail sales continued to show signs of improvement since early 2008, but at a more sluggish pace than in recent months. In a still uncertain economy, retailers today need to spot trends early and proactively reach customers, rather than react to demand. IBM predictive analytics gives retailers real foresight about customer trends and deeper customer understanding and increases the overall lifetime client value.

With IBM predictive analytics, NECK & NECK can now leverage and analyze large amounts of customer data instantly on profitability, purchasing, demographics and buying behavior from its Club NECK loyalty program to improve segmentation, and discover and connect the most profitable customers with its marketing campaigns.

For example, with Club NECK VIP customers, the organization customizes offers with an online sales card that contains contact information, transactional information and certain product pack recommendations by customer, and includes customized benefits with the increase of reward points, promotional products or customized presents during the point of sale.

For the remainder of the Club NECK customers, the organization develops a customer ranking that segments customer value according to profitability, family size and transactional status. With this, the organization is able to optimize campaigns on an individual level, targeting the most valuable and profitable customers while improving satisfaction through personalized member benefits.

Julio Eugenio Quiñónez, business intelligence manager at NECK & NECK, said, “IBM predictive analytics software has helped our organization improve business through better customer behavior prediction. We have now learned how to find the best variables, such as customer profitability, to help us effectively reach customers most likely to purchase and also encourage customers who haven’t purchased from our organization in a while to do so with the right promotion.”

Specifically, after six months of deploying the software, the NECK & NECK marketing team impressed its executive committee by comparing results of a promotional campaign versus the year prior without the boost of predictive analytics.  The result was an improved campaign response rate by more than 25 percent and an increase in the average amount of consumer purchases by 15 percent in one year as the organization mailed out fewer catalogs and promotions.

Jill Puleri, global leader for the retail industry at IBM, said, “Retailers need reliable information on customers, products, and the business that supports both tactical and strategic decisions. IBM predictive analytics helps retailers improve customer intimacy and make better decisions throughout their organization – improving everything from marketing and product development to customer retention and site selection.”

Twenty-one of the top 25 retailers worldwide use IBM predictive analytics to maintain and increase profitability, through improved customer understanding, operational efficiency, location analysis and product development.

To check out the IOD EMEA 2010 online press kit, click here.

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IBM Business Analytics helps Nottingham Building Society

Improve Customer Service and Efficiencies

LONDON, UK, May 21, 2010 - IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced that Nottingham Building Society, one of the largest regional building societies providing financial services in the UK, has improved customer service and efficiencies through reduced paper waste with the help of IBM business analytics.

IBM business analytics software is used by the Society to analyse financial, transactional, and operational statistics, as well as customer data on mortgage applications for the marketing team. The software generates reports on the primary mortgage application system, which processes an average of £500 million of applications per year.

Since implementing the IBM business analytics solution, the building society has been able to streamline the mortgage applications process by pinpointing potential bottlenecks and eliminating delays.   Akin with many other organisations, the Society is also always seeking to cut its carbon footprint and it has been estimated that over 14,000 trees a year could be saved by reducing the amount of paper waste an organisation such as The Nottingham creates.

“We continually seek to reduce the amount of paper used,” commented Jack Cutts, Head of IT at Nottingham Building Society. “Previously, reporting was manual and spreadsheet based. Information was shared by compiling a report, printing it out and distributing it by post. Version control was also a problem and there was no real time accuracy in the reports being generated. As reports were previously printed there was also an element of waste and this was a significant factor when we considered a new software system.”

IBM’s software has also increased automation across the whole organisation. Analytic dashboard views which show a snapshot of all management and operational reporting statistics have resulted in significant time savings. This has allowed C-level executives to focus less on administrative parts of the job and freed up time to drive further business.

“The new software is more convenient and saves time. It’s easier to use and, as any user can access information instantly, it increases the value of the data within the business,” said Cutts. “We’re now looking to deploy IBM business analytics to additional areas of the company as the value of mining data is proven and we can see the impact that it could have on other areas of the business.”

“Today's announcement is part of IBM's ongoing focus on helping clients use their information as a strategic asset through the optimisation of IBM Business Analytics software,” said Steve Dunnigan, Business Analytics Unit Executive, UK & Ireland, IBM. “Nottingham Building Society has also demonstrated how using analytics can help reduce cost and waste, improve efficiency and productivity.”

IBM has invested more than $11 billion to build an analytics portfolio which includes organic innovation and acquisitions. In addition, IBM has assembled 4,000 analytics consultants with industry expertise, and opened a network of seven analytics centers of excellence.  Today, IBM is working with more than 250,000 clients worldwide on predictive analytics, including 22 of the top 24 global commercial banks, 18 of the world's top 22 telecommunication carriers and 11 of the top 12 U.S. specialty retailers.

IBM Business Analytics is powered by IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence.

To check out the IOD EMEA 2010 online press kit, click here.

Follow along on Twitter: #IOD2010