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IBM on Wednesday has landed a 10-year pay-as-you-go IT services agreement with Delhi Stock Exchange worth about US$9.2 million.The stock exchange closed shop in 2002 due to low trading volumes. The IBM deal is expected to help the exchange meet strict requirements set out by the Securities and Exchange Board of India before it can resume operations, according to The Hindu Business Line. IBM will provide business continuity and disaster-recovery services and will remotely host and manage the exchanges IT infrastructure.
Big Blue also landed a 10-year IT services agreement with Innovation Auto Risk, which provides insurance claims-management and other services, reports India Times Infotech.
According to the terms of the services contract, IBM will build, host and manage the disaster recovery infrastructure for DSE and provide 24x7 monitoring services for hardware and network devices from its "command center."
The deal with IBM could help the Indian exchange resume operations after six years of inactivity. DSE, which has been in existence for 60 years, had to halt operations in 2002 due to "negligible trading volumes," with more than 2,800 companies listed. The opex model enables DSE to sign on for services without investing in IT upfront, which exchange executives could help it more quickly re-establish itself as a stock exchange in India.
"As DSE looks to claim back its position as one of the countrys leading stock exchanges, the agreement with IBM couldnt have happened at a better time," said H.S. Sidhu, executive director and CEO of DSE, in a statement. Added DSE Chairman Vijay Gupta: "IBMs strong value proposition of providing managed services in an opex model was also one of the key reasons why DSE decided to choose IBM for this strategic relationship."
The financial details of the DSE contract align with industry watchers predictions that outsourcing deals would shrink during the recession, but the duration shows some clients are committing to long-term outsourcing deals. IBM earlier this year announced it had signed an IT services contract with Whirlpool and added a 65-month agreement for outsourced IT services with Campbells Soup to its contract wins. IBM is currently leading the worldwide IT services market, with HP EDS following.
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