ACE Group Signs $97 Million Tech Services Agreement with IBM

IBM (Armonk, N.Y.) has signed a $97 million information technology services agreement with the ACE Group (New York). The revamped and extended contract will support ACE's infrastructure and application management environments in North America. IBM will provide mainframe, mid-range server, storage, network, and disaster recovery services as well as help desk, workstation, mobile device support, and application management services for a portion of ACE's portfolio. As part of the agreement, IBM will transform ACE's data center environment with consolidation, virtualization and standard tools and processes for improved service while lowering overall costs. The services began May 1, 2009, and will extend to Dec. 31, 2016. IBM global delivery centers in the U.S., India, Brazil, Argentina and Canada will support ACE's IT operations.

"We are pleased to continue our long-term IT services relationship with IBM and look forward to further service enhancements and cost efficiencies throughout our North American operations," said ACE Group's CIO, Kevin Shearan, in a statement.

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio