IBM Global Services

From
the days when networking meant connecting a Unix
mainframe to its client desktops with thick IBM co-ax cables,
IBM has now re-engineered itself to become an e-biz powerhouse
under the able leadership of Lou Gerstner. IBM Global Services
has always been in the backdrop of this IT monolith's
activities–laying and integrating the infrastructure. With
several decades of services' experience in the networking
arena, it is one of the most respected brands in the world. And
the global image is rubbing onto India.

In 1999-00 IBM Global
Services adopted a two-pronged vertical thrust strategy. One, it
was one of the first Network Integrators (NIs) to kick off an
ISP partner programme. It also announced typical ISP-in-the-box
infrastructure solutions. IBM was rewarded with 36 ISP deals.

Its commitment to grow
with the smaller ISPs won the team loyalty among the smaller
ISPs. This apart, IBM Global's good WAN references won some
big ISP deals involving building complex backbones apart from
integrating the Points of Presence (PoPs). The three big deals
it won last year were Comsat Max, Zee Telefilms, and Startec (Dialnet).

Two, it focused on
enabling e-business in large corporates by building the required
backbone infrastructure like large campus LANs and WANs. Here
too, it won some huge ATM and Gigabit cases in the campus LAN
segment, while it converted WAN cases involving different kind
of media and diverse networking equipment.

The good performance in
the ISP segment and the enterprise segment saw IBM Global grow
by 78 percent to a total NI revenue of Rs 63.24 crore in fiscal
1999-00. This enabled it to retain the #5 position in the NI
survey this year. Good wins apart, the major highlight of the
year was the

successful transition of IBM Global as a key NI partner of
Cisco, after the later bought over IBM's networking hardware
division.

The partnership between
the two was already bearing fruits with some successful
integration of Cisco router and high-end switches carried out by
IBM Global during the year. IBM, however, continued to be a
vendor-independent integrator with it still pursuing healthy
partnership with other networking players like 3Com, Cabletron,
Newbridge, Comsat Max, and Telstra V-Comm.

IBM plans to continue with its two-pronged
strategy to add more ISP cases and ATM/Gigabit LAN references to
its growing list. This apart, IBM Global is bullish about three
emerging markets–large data-centers in the ASP/dotcom
scenario, the international Internet gateways, and the wireless
Internet scene. IBM Global Services India Pvt Ltd is full of
zest and looks ready to broadband its services' portfolio.

In 1999-2000 ibm global
adopted a two-pronged vertical thrust strategy.