IBM and European insurance group QBE have entered into a strategic agreement, under which IBM will transform and manage the information technology infrastructure of QBE’s UK and Western European offices.
Kathy Lisson, chief operating officer of QBE European Operations, said: The agreement with IBM underpins QBE’s European transformation of operational support services by delivering a scalable operations platform and raising the service levels for our global operating platforms, particularly in the area of disaster recovery.
The partnership supports a major change program at QBE and covers the development and maintenance of its IT support services including helpdesk, desktop, data centre, LAN, WAN and disaster recovery.
According to IBM, its Portsmouth data centre will house the support for the business while virtualisation of the server estate will reduce QBE’s carbon footprint and provide availability and scalability for business growth.
Bruce Ross, general manager of IBM Global Technology Services UK & Ireland, said: Proven IBM service management disciplines and tools will deliver much higher levels of system availability and vastly improve QBE’s business continuity infrastructure. IBM’s flexible solution will enable QBE to adjust to the fast-changing demands of a competitive market and help transform their IT.
