back to article IBM bags multi-billion dollar outsourcing deal with ABN AMRO

IBM has bagged a multi-billion dollar 10-year deal with Dutch bank ABN AMRO, the second major European outsourcing win for the company in the last month. The deal is likely to bring cheer to Big Blue, following its recent "disappointing" third-quarter results. The deal includes a private IBM cloud, mobile computing, managed …

  1. Firewalker

    "IBM said it was already divesting under-performing businesses such as the microelectronics unit,"

    So, does this mean that executive management at IBM are incapable running their microelectronics unit profitably? Sounds like 1) a level of incompetence or 2) greed aka upper management bonuses/stock share price.

    1. proud2bgrumpy

      Re: IBM bags multi-billion dollar outsourcing deal with ABN AMRO

      @Firewalker

      Well this may be greed-driven / incompetence - I really have no idea, but what I do know is that the whole story is a little more complicated - IBM (IMO) is trying to emulate the ARM licencing approach, it will design the CPUs and licence those designs out (check out the Open POWER stuff) to a bunch of companies - some of which you've heard of like Google / Samsung / nvidia and some you may not have like Tyan / TeamSun / ZTE.

      IBM Power CPUs significantly outperform everything else from intel and Oracle/Sun by some margin, but don't get the advantages of volume that intel enjoy, so they cost more per unit. Open Power seeks to address that. Some of the companies that joined OpenPower would have issues with IBM retaining sole-manufacturing rights, so IBM sold off the Fabrication facility and have *more or less* pre-paid a 10yr (perhaps longer, I forget the details) outsourcing deal to guarantee production of Power CPUs.

      A fabrication facility that can supply Power CPUs to a wide base than IBM and perhaps broaden it's manufacturing to include other architectures such as ARM will get the economies of scale that other vendors (and I believe all the other major Unix vendors enjoy)

  2. Mark Exclamation

    Dear ABN AMRO, your wonderful decision will be rewarded with: higher TCO; longer response times to problems; completely inflexible rules; higher charges if want any extras; etc etc. When will people learn that outsourcing is MUCH more expensive and MUCH less flexible than running your own IT? All it does is move the costs into other cost accounts, often into several so the total cost is hidden.

    1. proud2bgrumpy

      Re: IBM bags multi-billion dollar outsourcing deal with ABN AMRO

      @ Mark Exclamation

      So - IBM ABN AMRO has outsourced to IBM for the last 12 years, presumably happily for all concerned since they just signed up for another 10 years - this combined with ABN apparently being the #1 Dutch Bank would suggest that comments are a bit silly, really - perhaps best to check a few facts in future...

      1. Mark Exclamation

        Re: IBM bags multi-billion dollar outsourcing deal with ABN AMRO

        @proud2bgrumpy, All your comment shows is that ABN AMRO has gone too far down the outsourcing track to do anything else - building their own IT infrastructure at this point would be almost impossible without huge disruption. It also shows the people who make these decisions don't see the crap that all the other staff have to put up with. Seems your lack of knowledge of outsourcing suggests that your comments are a bit silly, really - perhaps ask a few outsourced sites to check a few facts in future....

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Disgrace

    I've got one comment for you - GOOD LUCK... Just while some banks and government departments are trying to get rid of IBM...

  4. Basjoe

    No new deal for IBM

    Interestingly the article fails to mention that ABN AMRO has actually already outsourced IT to IBM as far back as 2002. IBM is running (and even owns) the data centre and the entire infrastructure as well as doing all desktop management and support. So this is mainly an extension of a an already running contract, rather than an entirely new deal for IBM. It is also a bit silly stating it will help ABN AMRO become a digital bank when it has been running internet and mobile banking services that are rated as #1 by Dutch customers for many years.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No new deal for IBM

      I did my tour there as part of the original IBM global outsource. That imploded when AAB got taken over and shared out among its predators. I had a very nice time there and must check if they're hiring contractors this time around.

  5. The Godfather
    Mushroom

    It's mine...all mine

    I take it this was never going to be passed through to channel players, aka IBM resellers

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