AIB has selected IBM to roll out a major migration to the Linux platform as part of a software and services project that will see Tivoli, Data WebSphere, Rational and Lotus technology deployed to more than 12,500 of the bank’s employees. The deal will also see a number of mainframe improvements and some enhanced managed services support offerings.
One of the elements of the deal is the deployment of IBM Lotus iNotes, IBM’s browser-based collaboration and messaging solution, which will be rolled-out to 12,500 AIB employees over the coming year.
The deal – termed by IBM as “a major enterprise software and services offering” – builds on an existing relationship between AIB and IBM.
Kevin Marley of AIB’s cost management and procurement services group, who was responsible for negotiating the commercial terms of the agreement, said: “The new software licence agreement has a number of commercial benefits from an AIB perspective. Firstly, it aggregates AIB’s IBM software licensing requirements, over a range of platforms, for the coming three years. It also provides flexibility to AIB to support current and future software needs for both mainframe and distributed systems, whilst reducing the total cost of ownership to the bank.”
IBM’s financial services sector client manager Sinead Scully added: “This is a highly strategic IT decision for AIB and the combination of standardising its email system with iNotes Web Access while migrating to a Linux platform, will bring significant cost savings to its operation alongside a lower cost of ownership.”
The new implementation will consolidate AIB’s current multi-mail environment that previously included three different vendor solutions and extend the email facility to branch staff who were previously without individual email access.
Another major part of the contract will see the implementation of IBM’s WebSphere middleware software on AIB’s mainframe and various distributed platforms, enabling the bank to optimise its business processes by integrating its IT infrastructure and applications.
By John Kennedy
