Reuters, London :
IBM is enjoying a wave of major technology outsourcing deals from European customers in the fourth quarter and the new contract signings are not over yet, an executive for the computer services giant said in an interview.
Late on Tuesday, IBM announced the third in a string of billion dollar plus contracts, saying it had won a seven-year, $1.25 billion deal with WPP, the world’s top advertising firm, to run WPP operations in the cloud.
On Monday, IBM disclosed a multibillion-dollar deal to provide computer infrastructure services to Dutch bank ABN Amro [ABRGPA.UL]. And last month, Lufthansa agreed a $1.25 billion contract for IBM to take over the German airline’s information technology operations and staff.
Bart Van den Daele, IBM’s general manager for strategic outsourcing in Europe, said big contract signings slowed in the depths of the euro crisis but that the region’s customers are ready to play catch-up.
“(There’s) a new wave of these deals which is still continuing and we see it going forward,” Van den Daele said in a phone interview, referring to cloud contracts. He did not specify, however, whether these deals would be similar in scale to the recent billion-dollar plus awards. “Now you see the first results with Lufthansa, ABN Amro and WPP and there will be others,” he added.
IBM is enjoying a wave of major technology outsourcing deals from European customers in the fourth quarter and the new contract signings are not over yet, an executive for the computer services giant said in an interview.
Late on Tuesday, IBM announced the third in a string of billion dollar plus contracts, saying it had won a seven-year, $1.25 billion deal with WPP, the world’s top advertising firm, to run WPP operations in the cloud.
On Monday, IBM disclosed a multibillion-dollar deal to provide computer infrastructure services to Dutch bank ABN Amro [ABRGPA.UL]. And last month, Lufthansa agreed a $1.25 billion contract for IBM to take over the German airline’s information technology operations and staff.
Bart Van den Daele, IBM’s general manager for strategic outsourcing in Europe, said big contract signings slowed in the depths of the euro crisis but that the region’s customers are ready to play catch-up.
“(There’s) a new wave of these deals which is still continuing and we see it going forward,” Van den Daele said in a phone interview, referring to cloud contracts. He did not specify, however, whether these deals would be similar in scale to the recent billion-dollar plus awards. “Now you see the first results with Lufthansa, ABN Amro and WPP and there will be others,” he added.
