Banco Espírito Santo (BES), a multi-specialist financial group in Portugal has signed a seven-year outsourcing services agreement with IBM (News - Alert). Under the agreement, IBM will be responsible for managing the information technology (IT) infrastructure for the bank.

 

According to António Raposo de Lima, IBM Portugal director, global technology services, this contract confirms IBM’s ability to respond to demanding performance levels in a market where the competitiveness and innovation are crucial factors for the consolidation of financial institutions.

 

IBM will be responsible for managing the entire BES server infrastructure in Portugal. This will include administration, management and operation of the midrange infrastructure, which is comprised of Intel (News - Alert) and Unix servers as well as all of the associated storage.

 

An infrastructure transformation and optimization program is also included in the agreement. The program includes hardware standardization, consolidation and virtualization projects, as well as business continuity and resiliency services. The latest contract with IBM is part of BES' IT strategy to improve IT efficiency, as well as management processes.

 

Miguel Rio Tinto, president of Espírito Santo Informática, said in a statement that they are confident in IBM's ability to deliver and manage their infrastructure services, which was already proven during the previous two-year contract, signed in 2006. He said that they chose IBM again as a long-term business partner due to the quality and the competitiveness of the new offerings.

 

IBM was recently in the news when it announced that they are in the midst of delivering on an outsourcing deal with Thanachart Bank Public Company Limited worth two billion baht (about $60 million) to enhance the bank’s IT capacity and progressive growth.