The project will support Safmarine’s growth objectives within the shipping industry by providing greater reliability and flexibility to the company’s IT infrastructure, at a lower cost, the companies said in a joint statement. The contract is one of IBM South Africa’s largest ever deals and further strengthens IBM’s IT services capability in the country.
IBM will provide IT consulting services to help develop and advance Safmarine’s vision and strategy. Under the agreement, IBM will in South Africa run Safmarine’s data center operations; provide disaster recovery services; manage server, storage as well as desktop systems; while also managing some of these services in Belgium.
Safmarine and IBM have enjoyed a close business relationship for more than 20 years and this agreement takes our relationship to a new level, added Safmarine CEO Ivan Heesom-Green.
IBM will offer Safmarine competitive, on demand IT services through their economies of scale and, as a long-term business partner, provide for our IT solutions of the future as we continue to expand our core world-wide shipping services.
